LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Slielf.-tetf 4 ! 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




What to Eat 

How to Serve it 



BY 



CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK 

AUTHOR OP "HOUSEKEEPING MADE EASY 
"CRADLE AND nursery" ETC. 



jrf 



- 





NEW YORK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1891 







Copyright, 1891, by Harper & Brothers. 



All. rights reserved. 



CONTENTS 



PAGK 

The Dining-Koom 1 

At the Breakfast-Table 16 

More about Breakfast 24 

The Invalid's Breakfast 32 

A Breakfast-Party . . .* 40 

Family Breakfasts for Spring 48 

Family Breakfasts for Summer 58 

Family Breakfasts for Autumn 68 

Family Breakfasts for Winter 77 

At Luncheon 88 

A Small Luncheon 96 

A Large Luncheon 104 

A Standing Lunch 112 

The Lunch Basket 120 

Family Lunches for Spring 128 

Family Lunches for Summer 137 

Family Lunches for Autumn 147 

Family Lunches for Winter .157 

iii 



CONTENTS 

TAGE 

Dinner at Night 105 

Dinner at Noon 173 

The Sunday Dinner 181 

The Small Dinner-Party . 188 

A Large Dinner 196 

Family Dinners for Spring 204 

Family Dinners for Summer 213 

Family Dinners for Autumn 221 

Family Dinners for Winter * . 230 

What Shall We Eat ? 239 

The Children's Table 247 

The Family Tea .255 

Afternoon Tea 263 

High Tea 271 

Some Hints about Supper 279 

China and Glass 288 

Linen and Silver '296 

Index 305 

iv 



WHAT TO EAT 

HOW TO SERVE IT 



THE DINING -ROOM 

THE apartment in which the members of 
a family assemble three times a day for 
meals must be pleasant. There is a chance 
to escape from any other part of the house. 
The business man rarely sees his drawing- 
room until after the shades are drawn and 
the lamps lighted. The wife and mother 
divides her time between nursery, sewing- 
room, and kitchen, while school-children are 
out of the house nearly as much as they are 
in it — at least during their waking hours. 
But no matter how widely the little flock 
may be scattered by their different employ- 
ments, always twice and often three times a 
1 i 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

day they are all together in this common 
rallying-place of the home. 

Only in the houses of the wealthy, or of 
those possessed of exceptionally large dwell- 
ings, is there found a breakfast-room other 
than that in which are eaten all the meals of 
the family. English mansions frequently 
possess both a family and a state dining- 
room, and the same custom prevails in some 
of the private palaces of our own million- 
aires ; but in the average American home 
one room must do duty for every repast, 
whether simple or superb ; and in our large 
cities this apartment is too likely, alas! to 
be situated in the basement. 

The immeasurable superiority of a dining- 
room built above-gJbund over one even par- 
tially beneath it hardly needs demonstration 
— it is more cheerful, more airy, and as a 
consequence more healthful, better lighted, 
of finer proportions, and more susceptible of 
effective decoration and furnishing — the ad- 
vantages might be continued ad infinitum. 
No one who has ever had the pleasure of us- 
ing an up-stairs dining-room can contentedly 

2 



THE DINING-ROOM 

descend to one below the level of the street. 
Apart from every other consideration, such 
rooms are very liable to be damp. It is not 
uncommon to have carpets grow musty and 
mouldy on their floors, or to find a percepti- 
ble dampness on their walls. These faults 
may be to some extent remedied by a layer 
of thick felt paper under the carpet, and by 
good fires and constant and thorough venti- 
lation. 

A few housekeepers express their prefer- 
ence for basement dining-rooms because of 
the nearness of these to the kitchen, and the 
work saved thereby. This is an important 
consideration in houses where but one maid 
is kept. Her work as cook and waitress is 
almost doubled when slie has to run up-stairs 
to remove the dishes from the dumb-waiter, 
and then fly back to her kitchen between the 
intervals of waiting on the table. In the 
country and in country towns it is the rule 
rather than the exception to find the kitchen 
in the L, or as an extension, and on the same 
floor with the dining-room and parlor, but in 
the majority of city houses the apartment 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

in which the family gathers at meal-times is 
a little below ground. When this is the case, 
and when there is no possibility of convert- 
ing the back parlor up-stairs into a dining- 
room by introducing a dumb-waiter and pan- 
try, or when expediency or want of space 
precludes such a change, the best must be 
made of existing circumstances, and the ef- 
forts redoubled to render the despised base- 
ment as pleasant as possible. 

The wall-paper must never be dark in a 
room like this, which at the best of times is 
never too light. Choose instead a creamy 
ground well covered with some small figure, 
or, better still, an ingrain paper of a solid 
color — a soft gray, a pale green, a cream, or 
one of those indescribable neutral tints that 
make good backgrounds, and furnish well 
but not obtrusively. 

Unless the room is wainscoted with wood, 
a very pretty and inexpensive substitute can 
be made of India matting, secured at the top 
by a narrow band of wood moulding. The 
matting can be washed off with salt and wa- 
ter whenever it needs cleansing. An excel- 
4 



THE DINING-EOOM 

lent plan is that of having the walls done in 
hard finish, and then painting this. The sur- 
face can then be scoured as often as it be- 
comes stained or specked, and will always 
look neat and fresh. An additional coat of 
paint can be put on when the first becomes 
worn or faded. 

In a rented house the tenants must, of 
course, take what they can get, and in many 
cases the landlord is unwilling to make 
changes. Still, pretty pictures, draperies, 
neat furniture, and a well-set table will do 
wonders, even for a room that appears un- 
promising at the outset. 

It never pays to purchase an expensive 
carpet for the ordinary dining-room. Some- 
thing durable should be selected, like an in- 
grain of a mixed color, or with a minute, 
closely-set figure. Better still is a rug, an 
art square, or a Smyrna rug, neither of 
which is high-priced, while either is satis- 
factory both in appearance and in wearing 
qualities. 

The floor should be stained or painted, 
for a distance of from two to three feet 
5 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

from the wall all around the room, in a neat 
dark color. Borders of wood-carpeting are 
handsome and last a long time, but are cost- 
ly, and one does not often find hard-wood 
floors in a rented house. The rug may be 
either laid loosely or tacked down around 
the edges. 

The draperies in a dining-room should not 
be heavy. Not only do such darken the 
room, but they catch and retain the odors of 
food, and hold constantly in their folds de- 
pressing reminders of former feasts. Scrim, 
lace, or light Madras or China silk, decorates 
the room and softens outlines without im- 
peding the entrance of light or air. Shades 
are essential, and so should be also window- 
screens from the appearance of the first fly 
in the spring until the last one has vanished 
in the fall. 

An open fireplace in a dining-room is un- 
surpassed for cheer and comfort there, as it 
is everywhere. A screen should always be 
in readiness to temper the glow and glare 
while the family are at meals. The chimney 
is a potent aid to ventilation, and helps to 
6 



THE DINING-ROOM 

disperse those odors that will collect in the 
best-ventilated salles a manger, and which 
are so appetizing before meals and so un- 
pleasant afterwards. 

Basement dining-rooms are seldom too 
cold. If they are heated by a register or a 
stove, or even by a coal fire in the grate, the 
constant struggle of the housekeeper is to pre- 
vent their becoming uncomfortably warm. 
Vicinity to the kitchen has much to do with 
this, and is in summer-time a serious draw- 
back to comfort. An equable temperature 
must be striven for by frequent airing at all 
seasons, and during the heated term by shad- 
ing the windows, and by keeping, as much 
as possible, the doors shut that communicate 
with the kitchen. One advantage at least 
is possessed by the basement dining-room in 
summer. In common with the cellar, or 
with any other partially subterranean cham- 
ber, it is cooler than one that is above ground 
and thus unprotected from the hot air with- 
out. 

The best method of artificially lighting a 
dining-room is hard to decide. Nothing is 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

prettier or pleasanter than candle-light, and 
it is preferable to gas or lamps in that it does 
not heat a room perceptibly. But candles 
are expensive, if enough are used to produce 
a respectable illumination, and nothing is 
more dismal than eating by a dim light. 
Good candles are costly, and cheap ones not 
only give a poor light, but drip and smoke 
and smell, and are otherwise intolerable. A 
new style of candle has recently been intro- 
duced which is pierced through its length 
with three holes. These tiny pipes are sup- 
posed to carry off the melted wax, and their 
advocates claim that these candles will not 
drip on the outside. 

Except on state occasions, candles are 
barred out for people of moderate means, 
and they must have recourse to lamps or 
gas. The light should always be suspended 
above the table, except, of course, where 
candles and candelabra or a tall-stemmed 
lamp are used. A side-light does not serve 
the purpose of a central one, for some one 
must always sit with his back towards it, 
and his plate is thus in a perpetual eclipse. 



THE DINING-ROOM 

Pretty hanging lamps come at all prices, but 
it never pays to get a cheap one. It may 
do very well for a time, but before long the 
burner will be out of order ; the machinery 
by which the wick is turned up or down will 
prove refractory, and repairs will do little 
good. The only efficient way of mending a 
poor lamp is by buying a new one. 

Among the best-known makes of lamps 
there is one with a powerful burner which 
gives a clear, steady flame, equal to two or 
three ordinary gas-jets. The only drawback 
connected with it is the intense heat it radi- 
ates, which makes it objectionable in sum- 
mer. Such a lamp costs about seven dollars, 
is furnished with a large ground-glass shade, 
and supplied with fixtures and a chain, by 
means of which it may be raised and lowered 
at pleasure. 

Whichever is used, gas or kerosene, the 
glare should always be softened by a shade 
of some kind. Globes of ground or colored 
glass may be used on gas-burners, or, if they 
are of clear glass, the light may be subdued 
by the Japanese half-shades, which can be 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

slipped over the lower half of the globe. A 
pretty fashion is that of fastening a Japan- 
ese umbrella, stick upwards, under the chan- 
delier, although this darkens the table too 
much, unless there is a strong light above it. 
If any member of the family suffers from 
weak eyes, and is distressed by the light that 
is none too brilliant for the others, quaint 
paper-screen shades, also of Japanese make, 
may be hung on the side of the globe tow- 
ards the sufferer. The long pliable wires 
attached to these shades permit them to be 
twisted at almost any angle. Or the fancy 
paper screens which imitate* roses, pond-lilies, 
sunflowers, and the like may be hung on the 
globes. 

There has been a good deal of discussion 
among furnishers as to what style of picture 
should be hung in a dining-room. One de- 
clares that the stereotyped paintings and en- 
gravings of fruit, fish, and fowl are the only 
appropriate works of art for this room ; while 
another argues that it is enough to see the 
food in its prepared condition upon the table, 
without being forced to contemplate it in its 
10 



THE DINING-ROOM 

natural state upon the walls. The wise 
course to follow seems to lie between the 
two. Eeally pretty pictures of game birds 
or fish, or of fruit or flowers, are undoubted- 
ly in their place in a dining-room, but there 
is no reason why every other kind of picture 
should be excluded. Pastoral or marine 
scenes, genre pictures, almost anything ex- 
cept family portraits, may fitly be placed 
there. Their place is in the library, the sit- 
ting-room, or in the large hall, if there be 
one. 

Nothing should hang in the dining-room 
that is not good of its kind. A cheap chro- 
mo, a poorly executed drawing or water- 
color, or an indifferent photograph annoys 
beyond words the unfortunate wight who has 
to sit opposite it for an hour or two each 
day. 

The furniture of a dining-room should be 
durable, even if its owners cannot afford to 
have it very handsome. Cheap chairs and 
table are out of place here. Even those who 
cannot afford leather-upholstered chairs and 
a heavy mahogany or black- wal nut or oak 
11 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

dining-table may get solid, durable substi- 
tutes. Cane seats for the chairs, and an un- 
polished top for the table, are better than 
showy — and cheap — elegance. A square 
table generally allows more space to those 
seated about it than does a round one. Al- 
most any amount of money may be expend- 
ed upon a sideboard, but a good one may be 
purchased at no great outlay. In addition 
to this, if space permits, there should be a 
table, with a shelf or two above it, to serve 
as a dinner-wagon. This is almost a neces- 
sity when the vegetables are passed instead 
of being placed on the table, and it is also 
useful for holding relays of clean plates, etc. 
The amount of furniture that is useful and 
appropriate in a dining-room is of necessity 
limited. Besides the articles already named, 
there may be a china press or cabinet, an 
easy-chair or two, or even a .sofa. The last 
is a boon to an invalid or convalescent, who 
grows weary of a long seance in a high, 
straight-backed chair. The couch may be 
forced to serve a double purpose by being 
made in the form of a long box, broad and 
12 



THE DINING-ROOM 

low, covered with cretonne, denim, or any 
other durable material, and provided with a 
hair mattress on the top. When two or three 
square pillows are added to this, behold a 
comfortable divan, that will at the same time 
be a receptacle for the table-linen. Some 
such coffer as this is almost a must-have in a 
dining-room, unless the china closet is pro- 
vided with drawers. 

A wall cabinet for choice pieces of china is 
a pretty ornament for a dining-room, and so 
is an over-mantel. The latter may consist of 
two, three, or more shelves, and should be 
solid at the back, as small hooks may then 
be screwed in, upon which to hang tea or 
coffee cups. These shelves may extend the 
full length of the mantel, or occupy only part 
of the space. In any case they are excellent 
for displaying such pieces of china as one 
may not wish to keep concealed in the depths 
of a china closet. Nothing very delicate that 
will be injured by dust should stand here. 

A corner cupboard adds to the beauty of a 
room, and may either be bought ready-made, 
or built to fit some especial corner. The 

13 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

lower part of the cupboard may have a solid 
wooden door, while glass doors for the up- 
per part permit a view of the glass or silver 
stored there. 

Blessed is that woman whose house con- 
tains a butler's pantry. Too often the fine 
china and glass must either be washed in the 
kitchen, or else in a dish-pan brought into 
the dining-room. When a pantry is lacking, 
there should be a butler's tray to hold the 
solid dishes. Such a tray may be closed, and 
put out of the way when not in use. A 
folding screen covered with Japanese pict- 
ures, with wall-paper, or with some textile 
fabric, may conceal the door to the pantry, 
or the slide by which dishes enter the dining- 
room, or may cut off the corner in which 
stands the butlers tray. 

To the woman of quick wit and ready 
fingers countless are the opportunities pro- 
vided for beautifying her dining-room. She 
may drape her mantel and conceal the ugly 
marble, using for this stamped Madras, or 
silkolene, both of which are pretty and 
cheap ; she may make covers for her side- 
14 



THE DINING-ROOM 

board, rich with drawn-work and embroid- 
ery ; she may set a box of growing plants in 
the window, and tend them, so that she may 
always have a vase of fresh blossoms or of 
green sprays for the centre of the table ; and 
she may expend boundless energy in the 
manufacture of doilies, tray-cloths, and the 
thousand and one dainty pieces of linen dear 
to the housewife's soul. 
15 



• AT THE BREAKFAST- TABLE 

EVEKYTHING in reason should be done 
to make the breakfast a tolerably pleas- 
ant meal. Very cheerful or jovial it seldom is. 
The father is in a hurry to get to his office 
or business, and usually buries himself in the 
morning paper; the children are burdened 
with the thought of approaching school 
duties ; the mother is silently mapping out 
the line of her clay's operations, and is disin- 
clined to conversation. Add to this that all 
are apt to be more or less dominated by the 
physical depression of tone and passive dis- 
comfort so well known that one judge is 
fabled to have refused to ordain capital pun- 
ishment for a man convicted of having com- 
mitted a murder before breakfast. Until 
after that meal, even the best-tempered are 
prone to petulance, while those of a taciturn 
nature are quiet to the verge of what looks 
like sullenness. 

16 



AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE 

Here, as everywhere, upon the mother de- 
volves the burden of the family well-being. 
If her face is cast down and gloomy, its re- 
flection is seen in the countenances of all 
those about her ; while if she is bright and 
sunny, there is a perceptible rise in the spir- 
itual thermometer. Only by making a posi- 
tive duty of cheerfulness is it practicable 
sometimes for the mother to conquer the 
weariness and languor, the aching head, and 
the loathing for food, that are so frequently 
a woman's morning portion. The discom- 
fort the other members of the family know 
is increased tenfold in her case if a restless 
child, an ailing baby, or worry over financial 
or domestic matters has robbed her of part 
of her night's sleep. 

A good deal may be done to create an at- 
mosphere of pleasantness by- due attention 
to the condition of the room. Unless it has 
been left in spotless order the preceding even- 
ing, either the maid or one of the family 
must bestow some attention upon it beyond 
putting the breakfast on the table. No 
crumbs from the last repast should disfigure 
2 17 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

the carpet; no dust of yesterday's raising 
should be thick upon the furniture. The 
windows should have been open long enough 
to change the air of the room ; then, in cold 
weather, been closed a sufficient length of 
time before the entrance of the family to al- 
low the atmosphere to become comfortably 
warmed. The vase of flowers or the grow- 
ing plant that ought to grace the centre of 
every table should have a drink of fresh 
water, and be ready to do its part in bright- 
ening the board. The table should be care- 
fully set, the food well cooked, and promptly 
served. And, above all, there should be a 
sincere and conscientious endeavor on the 
part of each member of the household to 
sink his own disagreeable feelings, and to 
do all in his power to contribute his share 
towards the sum total of the family cheerful- 
ness. Conversation on pleasant topics should 
be encouraged, and the items of morning 
news distributed to all, not monopolized by 
the one in possession of the paper. 

No amount of accustomedness should ever 
induce the mistress of the house to condone 
18 



AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE 

carelessness on the plea that there is no one 
present but the family. Just because it is 
" only home folks," everything should be at 
its brightest. There is no necessity for urg- 
ing the parade of pretty china, the prepa- 
ration of tempting dishes, when an honored 
guest is to be served. Should not even more 
pains be taken to have everything attractive 
and appetizing when those are to be fed who 
have not the charm of novelty to act as 
sauce, and to whom the ordinary methods of 
cookery may seem stale and hackneyed ? 

The table should always appear at its best 
at breakfast-time. A colored cloth is eco- 
nomical as well as pretty, for it does not 
show every spot or splash with the readiness 
of a white cloth. There is a large variety of 
these table coverings from which the house- 
keeper may make her selections, ranging in 
beauty and price from the plain, compara- 
tively cheap red cloth with light figures to 
the exquisite pieces of fine damask, gorgeous 
with embroidery, and with a lace-like border 
of drawn- work. For common daily use, the 
judicious choice will probably lie somewhere 
19 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

between these, either in a buff, a buff and 
scarlet, a buff and blue, or one of the beau- 
tiful Holbein cloths that come, with the 
dozen napkins, at about eight dollars the set. 
The ground in these is well covered, and 
they have the advantage of being nearly as 
pretty on the wrong side as they are on the 
right. Another recommendation is that they 
wear admirably, one at least within the 
writer's knowledge having been in constant 
use for between four and five years without 
showing a sign of old age, except in the thin- 
ning of the fringe, while the body of the 
cloth remained without a break. The deli- 
cate tints of the worked pattern will fade 
with frequent washing, so that blue and pink 
would better be avoided, and the preference 
given to the scarlets and buffs, which hold 
their own well. 

The cloth is saved by the use of mats un- 
der dishes. Those of straw or wicker-work 
are apt to become soiled and stained, and are 
not readily cleansed. On the contrary, those 
which are knitted, netted, or crocheted may 
be washed every week, if necessary. It is 

20 



AT THE BEEAKFAST- TABLE 

almost impossible to find a waitress so care- 
ful that once in a while a dish will not be 
brought to the table with a black rim on the 
bottom, or wet or greasy w T ith something 
spilled where it has been standing on the 
kitchen -table. Wherever this touches, the 
cloth beneath is disfigured, and it is better to 
protect it against such misadventures by the 
use of mats in the first place than to be 
forced to conceal the blemishes afterwards 
by " setting the table to humor the spots." 

Worked and fringed doilies are pretty sub- 
stitutes for mats, and when there is a cover 
of felt on the table under the damask cloth — 
as there should always be — they are thick 
enough to guard the varnished table-top from 
injury from the hot dishes. A carving-cloth 
should be spread under the meat-platter, and 
will generally by the close of the meal bear 
upon its surface eloquent testimony to the 
service it has done in saving the table-cloth. 

While it is no sign of stinginess not to 

have one's best and most fragile china for 

constant use, poor judgment is shown when 

only plain heavy white ware is employed for 

21 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

the family when they are alone. Decorated 
porcelain is cheap nowadays, and makes a 
table look extremely pretty. Each one of 
the household should have his own especial 
oatmeal set, either the bowl, plate, and pitch- 
er, or one of the deep saucers that come for 
this purpose in dark blue and white ware, 
with a plate to match, while the cream or 
milk may be held for common use in one 
good-sized pitcher, to be served by the moth- 
er, or passed to each, as may seem best. 
Every tea or coffee drinker should have his 
own cup and saucer, and in his imagination 
his favorite beverage will taste better from 
that cup than from any other. 

There is little chance to make mistakes in 
setting the breakfast-table. The hostess has 
the tray before her, and serves the tea, cof- 
fee, or chocolate. At the other end of the 
table is the principal dish, presided over gen- 
erally by the master of the house, while bis- 
cuit, bread, muffins, or gridclle-cakes and po- 
tatoes have their posts at the sides. An oat- 
meal set stands at each place, accompanied 
by the knife, fork, and spoon, tumbler, nap- 
22 



AT THE BREAKFAST -TABLE 

kin, butter-plate — unless the oatmeal course^ 
is preceded by one of fruit, when fruit plates, 
with fruit napkins and finger-bowls, should 
hold the first place. 

With the fresh room, the bright cloth, the 
shining glass and silver, the vase of flowers, 
the appetizing food, one must be either very 
dyspeptic or a confirmed pessimist who does 
not feel a slight rise of spirits as he takes his 
place at the breakfast-table. 
23 



J10RE ABOUT BREAKFAST 

IN the majority of the homes where fruit 
is served for breakfast it appears as a 
first course. Countless are the headaches to 
which this custom has given rise among those 
whose stomachs resent the introduction of 
the acid as the earliest nourishment of the 
day. The choice should always be given 
each eater between beginning with fruit or 
reserving it as a final course. When it is 
served last it acts as a pleasant neutralizer of 
the solid or possibly greasy food that has 
been already* consumed, and sends one from 
the table with what children call "a good 
taste " in the mouth. 

The habit of eating some cereal for break- 
fast is happily becoming almost universal. 
There are comparatively few households in 
which porridge of one sort or another does 
not appear on the breakfast-table, and it is 
usually relished by both children and elders. 
24 



MOKE ABOUT BKEAKFAST 

It need not be always of oatmeal. There 
are numerous varieties of cereals in the 
market at present, and an occasional change 
Avill prevent any one's wearying of the 
wholesome dish. With cracked wheat, cere- 
aline, wheat-germ meal, wheatena, wheat, 
oat, and Graham flakes, corn-meal mush, 
hominy boiled plain, hominy boiled in milk, 
and a number of others to choose from, there 
is no reason why any one should have occa- 
sion to complain of monotony. Cream adds 
greatly to the toothsome qualities of any one 
of these preparations, and may usually, even 
in the city, be procured in sufficient quantities 
to allow a modicum for each of the elders. 
The healthy appetites of the children rarely 
need this encouragement. 

The tea should always be made on the 
table when it is possible, as by this means 
there need be no doubt that the water used 
in its concoction is actually boiling. The 
" loud-hissing urn " is a decided add tion to 
the beauty and brightness of the table, es- 
pecially when the " urn " is in the form of a 
pretty brass or copper kettle, swinging from 
25 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

one of the tall cranes known as a "five- 
o'clock tea." Some people prefer making 
the coffee on the table too, and this is pos- 
sible when a Vienna coffee-pot or a French 
drip coffee-pot is used. The only trouble is 
that the coffee in the latter pot is apt to cool 
before it has stood long enough to extract 
the full strength of the berry. 

The tea-cozy should never be lacking, and 
it is not a bad plan to have a similar wadded 
cap with which to cover the coffee-pot. One 

» of the prettiest and best kinds of tea-cozy is 
the covered Japanese basket with a thick 

• stuffed lining, in which the china teapot is 
set. These are not costly, and will outwear 
the ordinary cozy made of silk, w r oollen, or 
chamois-skin. When the lining of the basket 
is worn out, it may easily be renewed. 

The substantial part of our American 
breakfast is not marked by much variety. 
At nearly all of them will be found the steak, 
chops, or cutlets, varied once in a while by 
fish, a hash, or a stew, semi-occasionally by 
a dish of eggs. Potatoes in some form — 
stewed, baked, boiled, or fried — are in order, 
26 



MORE ABOUT BREAKFAST 

and these are flanked by a plate of hot bis- 
cuit or muffins, or oftenest by successive in- 
stalments of griddle-cakes. 

There is no use in adding further to the 
diatribes that have been written and spoken 
against the American breakfast. Such as it 
is, it appears to be here to stay, and it is a 
waste of time, breath, and energy to attempt 
a radical reform. All one can hope to do is 
possibly to modify it, and lighten its same- 
ness by suggesting dishes that may please 
the palate and not impair the digestion. 
The adoption of the Continental breakfast 
has been vainly urged, and it is an open 
question whether or not the habit ever sur- 
vives transportation. The American climate 
and mode of life differ so much from those 
of the Continent that other fashions must be 
followed here than those which prevail there. 
Many families, who during a long foreign 
residence have found quite sufficient for their 
matutinal meal the coffee or chocolate, the 
rolls and butter, possibly supplemented by 
fresh eggs or a little marmalade, have con- 
scientiously endeavored to pursue the same 
27 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

custom upon their return to this country. 
In not a single case within the writer's cog- 
nizance has the attempt proved other than a 
failure, recognized as such at the end of a 
few months. Autre pays, autres mmurs. 

While the children are still young, the en- 
tire family usually breakfasts together. The 
obligation upon the } T ounger members of 
reaching their schools at a given hour forces 
them to be on time, although there are homes 
in which the wretched practice is observed 
of permitting the school boys and girls to 
rush in at the last moment and gulp down a 
few mouthfuls, hurrying off to their recita- 
tions after having thus successfully sown the 
seeds of future dyspepsia. As the sons and 
daughters grow into manhood and woman- 
hood, they drift more and more into un- 
punctual habits. The breakfast-table is left 
standing well on into the middle of the 
morning, and sundry plats are kept hot in 
the oven for Mr. Jack or Miss Mamie, who 
has been out late the night before. Often 
the demands of business require the young 
man to be down in season, but there are no 

28 



MORE ABOUT BREAKFAST 

such claims obliging his sister to quit her 
couch at a — to her — unseasonable hour. As 
a consequence, what should be one of the 
family gathering-places becomes little better 
than a hotel breakfast-room, where the guests 
come and go as suits themselves. Besides all 
other considerations, the work of the ser- 
vants is increased, and their own duties are 
crowded out by the necessity of being in 
readiness to serve these tardy ones. 

At the first glance it may seem harsh to 
exact the prompt appearance at the break- 
fast-table of the girl who has danced until 
after one o'clock in the morning, and whose 
head has not touched her pillow until an 
hour or two later. But the habit of self- 
indulgence fostered by such concessions, does 
the girl no good. Is it any harder for her 
to rise betimes than it is for the weary moth- 
er, whose domestic cares forbid her lying in 
bed? Does not this indolence to a certain 
degree unfit the daughter for the duties that 
will devolve upon her when she in turn be- 
comes a wife and mother ? 

One sensible matron, who still held the 

29 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

reins of family government as firmly when 
her children were grown as when they were 
first short-coated, always insisted on prompt- 
ness at the breakfast-table. " Human beings 
are gregarious," she would say, "and they 
should eat together. If you are tired and 
sleepy, take a nap later in the day, but be on 
hand at breakfast-time." 

Of course there may be exceptions to this 
rule, and here the maternal judgment must 
appear. More privileges can be allowed to 
the delicate, nervous girl, than to the strong, 
robust one ; but then the former should avoid 
late hours and dissipation. An occasional 
morning nap does no harm ; but there is lit- 
tle rhyme or reason in permitting the young, 
healthy members of the family to be the lie- 
abeds. 

Without encouraging any disposition to 
" finicalness " concerning food, special atten- 
tion should be paid to individual preferences 
in catering for the family breakfast. Chil- 
dren are apt to take whims, and these should 
not be fostered; but when either a child 
or an older person has a decided distaste for 



MORE ABOUT BREAKFAST 

some article of food, he cannot be forced into 
a fondness for it. Better is it to humor his 
idiosyncrasies by preparing something that 
he will eat. In a private family it may be 
out of the question to cook a separate break- 
fast for each one, but a little forethought 
will enable the housekeeper to so arrange 
her menu that every one will have at least 
one dish to his or her taste. This is not a 
difficult matter, unless there is the unusual 
combination of a large family and very dis- 
tinct preferences. Generally there is so much 
in common that trifling varieties in the bill 
of fare will accommodate each person. 
31 



THE INVALID'S BREAKFAST 

FOR the invalid there is often no possibili- 
ty of the slight stimulus to appetite pro- 
duced by the change of air from one room to 
another. Breakfast, the hardest meal of the 
day to many well people, is doubly difficult 
to one who must eat it in the same room where 
she has spent the night — perhaps many nights 
— of feverish restlessness, that has given her 
a detestation of the bed, the bedroom, and 
everything connected therewith, chiefest of 
all being the disgust with herself, the weary, 
distraught being with aching limbs, heavy 
head, and ill-tasting mouth. 

When feasible, the invalid should be taken 
from bed to eat her regular breakfast, previ- 
ously strengthening her by a cup of beef- 
tea, of chicken or oyster broth, or a glass of 
hot milk, or of hot milk and seltzer. First 
of all, however, the face and hands should be 
sponged off in tepid water and dried quickly, 



THE INVALID S BREAKFAST 

and the mouth well rinsed out. Then, re- 
freshed and stimulated by this and the warm 
draught, a little more elaborate toilet may 
be made, always allowing a few moments 
for the settling of the stomach after the food 
before the dressing begins. A more thorough 
bathing, a combing of the hair, a change of 
linen, the slipping on of a warm dressing- 
gown, and the moving to another couch or 
an easy-chair will not be a prolonged piece 
of work if the attendant is quick and deft, 
and has everything in readiness for bath and 
toilet. 

A great advantage is gained when the in- 
valid can be wheeled or supported into an- 
other room, and have a completely changed 
air and scene in which to take her meal. But 
when this is impracticable the room should 
be well aired before the patient is taken out 
of bed, and as soon as she is established on 
her couch or in her chair, and this placed as 
far as possible from the bed, the covers of 
this should be stripped off and carried from 
the room. Every piece of cast-off linen, every 
receptacle containing soiled water, everything 
3 33 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

that recalls the fact that this is a sleeping- 
room and that can be removed, should be 
banished. A screen should be set between 
the patient and the bed, and if the cham- 
ber still seems close, she should be bundled 
up while another draught of fresh, pure air 
is allowed to rush into the room. After 
all this, when a table bearing an attrac- 
tive breakfast is moved to the invalid's el- 
bow, she is usually quite ready to partake 
of it. 

In many cases it is out of the question for 
the patient to leave her bed, and then the 
coaxing of the appetite is a more difficult 
task. The very fact of being in bed seems 
to render eating almost an impossibility to 
some people. The woman who complained 
petulantly that everything she ate in bed 
tasted of the blanket and pillows, only voiced 
the sentiments of a multitude of her sisters. 
Among some women, breakfast in bed is es- 
teemed a luxury ; but it is one thing to take 
it there from choice, and quite another to be 
forced to do so by weakness or ill-health. 
Still, with due care, it may be made less dis- 
34 



THE INVALID S BREAKFAST 

tasteful than would seem practicable at the 
first glance. 

The preliminary sponging, mouth- washing, 
and hot drink should take place in this as in 
the other case. Then, after a brief rest, dur- 
ing which the windows should have been 
opened for a few minutes, and closed long 
enough to allow the room to regain a com- 
fortable temperature, the task of rearranging 
the bed and its occupant should be begun. 
Clean linen and pillows should be at hand, 
and the patient be sponged off, have her hair 
combed, be arrayed in another night-dress, 
moved to the other side of the bed, and pro- 
vided with a fresh pillow, as expeditiously 
yet gently as may be. Then, when the soiled 
clothing has been removed, the room been 
once more aired and warmed, the patient 
may be raised on pillows and her breakfast 
brought to her. There is an admirable little 
table which may be arranged above the pa- 
tient's knees, and is a great comfort to any 
one compelled to take her meals in bed for 
any length of time. 

Nothing should be left untried to render 

35 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

the invalid's breakfast tempting. The tray 
should be covered with a spotless cloth, the 
china, silver, and glass should be of the best 
the house affords, and the same napkin should 
never be offered a second time. 

The tea or coffee cup and the egg-glass 
should be filled with boiling water, that they 
may not cool what is put into them. A pretty 
little pot should hold the tea or coffee, and 
there should be a tiny cream-jug and sugar- 
bowl. A vase containing a few flowers, pref- 
erably those without a heavy perfume, should 
grace the tray, and in the preparation of 
the food every evidence should be given of 
the loving thoughtfulness that has left un- 
sought no means of lightening the discom- 
fort of the sufferer. Where there is no bed- 
table, there should be another tray, smaller 
than that in which the breakfast is brought. 
This may then be placed on a stand or chair 
beside the bed, while the other holds the cup 
or plate upon the patient's lap. A large nap- 
kin or clean towel should always protect the 
bedclothes from food that may possibly be 
spilled upon them, for few things are more 
36 



unpleasant to a sick person, especially to 
one afflicted with a squeamish stomach, 
than the sight of a spot of egg, coffee, or 
grease on sheet or spread. When such an 
accident occurs, the stained article should 
always be promptly exchanged for a fresh 
one. 

The meal over, every vestige of food and 
every reminder of the repast should be at 
once removed, the patient's face and hands 
again sponged off, the pillows shaken and 
turned, and the invalid's position changed. 
Should any odor of food remain, the room 
may once more be aired. 

Peace and quiet must reign while the in- 
valid eats. If visitors are to be admitted it 
must not be at that time. Only one or pos- 
sibly two members of the family, and those 
the quietest ones, may be present, and the 
conversation must be pleasant and cheery. 
No distressing topics must be broached, no 
references except encouraging ones made to 
the invalid's state of health. In the deli- 
cately balanced condition of nerves which 
generally afflicts a sick person, very little 
37 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

will serve to upset the equilibrium and to 
effectually banish appetite. 

All that love's ingenuity can suggest 
should be done to provide a variety of food 
for the invalid. After a little while she usu- 
ally tires of what impatient men, under sim- 
ilar circumstances, stigmatize as " slops," and 
wearies for something more substantial and 
appetizing than gruels, broths, and soft toast. 
In those cases where solid food is forbidden 
by the physician, catering is more difficult, 
but often a convalescent is permitted to eat 
a greater variety of food than is offered her. 
Cream soups, clear soups, broiled birds, a 
bit of tenderloin steak, a lamb chop, a tiny 
baked omelet, raw, stewed, and roast oys- 
ters, broiled and fricasseed chicken, poached 
and soft-boiled eggs, a bit of venison, dishes 
of rice, sago, and tapioca, jellies, custards, 
blanc-manges, fruits, plain ice-cream — there 
is almost no end to the dainty menus that 
can be arranged. Every meal should be a 
surprise ; there should be no discussion in 
the invalid's presence of what she can eat, 
although every reasonable wish she expresses 



THE INVALID S BREAKFAST 

for any article of food should be gratified, if 
feasible. The sick one's lot is hard enough 
at the best, and no expedient should be left 
untried to ameliorate it. 
39 



A BREAKFAST - PARTY 

LAEGE breakfasts, or dejeuners d la four- 
chette, are not a very common form of 
entertainment in this country, and yet they 
may be made charming. Unlike luncheons, 
where there are usually only women present, 
both men and women may be invited to a 
breakfast. The hour is usually twelve, al- 
though it may be a little earlier or later. One 
o'clock is the latest hour which it is advis- 
able to set for a breakfast. 

The number of guests invited is optional, 
but a small party, consisting of from six to 
twelve, is pleasanter than a crush. Indeed, 
unless one has an exceptionally spacious salle 
a manger, it is difficult to accommodate com- 
fortably more than a dozen guests, and an 
over-crowded table is always unpleasant. 
The writer preserves a vivid memory of a 
dinner she once attended where fourteen 
people were packed about a table of the 

40 



A BREAKFAST-PARTY 

proper size for ten guests. There was hard- 
ly room for the waiters to pass the dishes 
between the convives. Each one elbowed 
his neighbor, and what might have been a 
delightful repast became a struggle at close 
quarters with the difficulties of getting 
through the courses without nudging his 
next companion, knocking over his glass, or 
materially interfering with his eating. 

At a ceremonious breakfast the table 
should be spread with a handsome breakfast 
or lunch cloth, either of pure white, hem- 
stitched or adorned with drawn- work, or one 
containing more or less color. If the table 
is very handsome, the cloth may be left off. 
The floral ornamentation is less formal than 
at a dinner. There may be a bowl of flow- 
ers in the centre of the table, but quite as 
pretty as this are three or four graceful vases 
scattered here and there, each holding a few 
choice blossoms, and supplemented, if the ta- 
ble is large, by a few tiny globes or little 
dishes filled with short-stemmed flowers that 
look well, massed, like pansies, violets, prim- 
roses, etc., mixed with plenty of delicate 
41 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

feathery green. If a central ornament for 
the table is desired, there is nothing prettier 
than a wicker or metal basket filled with 
growing ferns, grasses, or lycopodium, with 
possibly one or two plants in bloom among 
them. 

In setting the table for a large breakfast, 
a plate, napkin, water-glass, and a butter- 
plate holding a tiny pat or ball of butter, are 
laid at each place, and a salt-cellar also, if 
individual salts are used. At the right of 
each plate is the silver butter-knife, and one 
other knife ; to the left is the fork. The 
taste of the hostess must decide the point of 
placing more small silver than is needed at 
each course by the plates when the table is 
first spread. Laying it all at once saves 
waiting, but some good authorities ordain 
that a waiter should bring in a fresh knife 
and fork with each course for each guest, 
while others, equally reliable, advocate plac- 
ing the knife and fork upon a cold plate in 
front of each person at the beginning of 
every course. The guest instantly removes 
them, and a hot plate is substituted by the 
42 



A BREAKFAST-PARTY 

waiter for the cold one before the next dish 
is passed. This system involves much addi- 
tional waiting, and should not be attempted 
unless an exceptionally well-trained butler is 
in charge. 

The little dishes of bonbons, marrons, and 
glace fruits that are always en regie at a 
luncheon should not appear on the breakfast- 
table. There may, however, be olives, rad- 
ishes, and salted almonds placed here and 
there. 

The first course should consist of fruit. 
The plates, holding each its doily, finger- 
bowl, fruit-knife, fork, and spoon, may be on 
the table when the guests enter the room, or 
be put there as soon as they are seated. The 
variety of fruit offered must be decided by 
the time of year. When they are in season, 
nothing could be more delicious than big 
strawberries, served uncapped. These may 
be passed in a dish, and each guest allowed 
to help himself. Sugar into which to dip the 
berries may then be served to each. Pret- 
tier still is it to place in front of each guest 
a plate bearing a tiny decorated basket filled 
43 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

with the berries. The sugar may be in tiny 
individual sugar - cellars or be passed in a 
bowl. Unless the berries are fine large ones, 
it is better to serve them hulled, and to eat 
them with sugar and cream. In that case 
they are eaten from saucers. 

Peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines, etc., in 
summer, and oranges, apples, mandarins, ba- 
nanas, and the like in winter, all add greatly 
to the beauty of a breakfast-table when they 
are garnished with leaves and heaped upon 
a large flat salver, or in a cut-glass bowl, or 
an open-work one of china or silver. 

After the fruit may come a course of oys- 
ters cooked a la poulette, broiled, steamed, 
panned, or in croquettes. For these may be 
substituted lobster or crab in some form, if 
preferred, or both the oysters and the other 
may be served in successive courses. Next 
may come some such entree as sweetbreads 
roasted, broiled, fricasseed, or in vol-aa-vent 
with mushrooms, or chickens may be served 
in some such dainty form as pates, timbales, 
a la marcngo, or au sujyreme. Next are 
chops, cutlets, or small beef tenderloins, with 
44 



A BREAKFAST-PARTY 

potatoes in some fanciful style. There should 
be no other vegetable. French bread or rolls 
must be passed frequently. 

The next course may consist of a game 
pie, either cold or hot, or of boned fowl, and 
may be followed by a salad. The name of 
these is legion, but the plain lettuce salad is 
better reserved for dinner, and in its stead 
at breakfast there may be served something 
like tomatoes and lettuce with mayonnaise 
dressing, celery mayonnaise garnished with 
radishes, and accompanied by" crackers and 
cheese, or a fruit -salad of oranges, grape 
fruit, or pineapple. 

The dessert may be of any cold sweets, 
and if ices are used they should be of the 
punch order — one of the many varieties 
known as Koman, Siberian, Creole, cardinal, 
etc. If crackers and cheese are not served 
with the salad, they may be passed at the 
close of the breakfast. Brie, Gorgonzola, or 
Roquefort may be used. 

At a breakfast of ceremony the tea or cof- 
fee tray is never placed on the table, but 
breakfast coffee or cocoa is served in large 
45 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

cups after the fruit, and is passed by the but- 
ler, instead of being poured by the hostess. 
Tea may also be offered. Wines are not 
strictly selon les regies at a breakfast, al- 
though occasionally claret is served about 
the middle of the meal. 

The waiting at such a breakfast as this is 
about as ceremonious as it would be at a 
luncheon. No large dishes are placed on the 
table, but everything is passed by the butler 
or waitress. Each dish may go the rounds, 
and the guests be allowed to help themselves, 
or a plate containing a portion may be placed 
by the butler in front of each person. The 
guest always helps himself to cheese and 
hors-d'oeuvres, but the ices are served sep- 
arately on plates. Bouquets de corsage, bou- 
tonnieres, cards and menus are not necessary 
at a breakfast. 

A wedding breakfast is conducted on much 
the same line as that described above, except 
that there are usually fewer hot and more 
cold dishes served, such as salmon, lobster, 
or chicken a la mayonnaise, boned turkey 
and chicken, pate-de-foie-gras, jellied tongue 
46 



A BREAKFAST-PARTY 

and fowl, and a greater variety of such sweets 
as creams and jellies. Wines, too, are quite 
comme ilfaut. 

The giving of a breakfast need not be a 
matter of dread to the hostess who has con- 
fidence in her cook and waitress. The menu 
suggested may be so modified or increased 
as to make it as simple or as elaborate as 
preference may dictate. A breakfast is a 
pleasant style of entertainment, for, while 
both sexes are admitted, as at dinner, there 
is not the formality of dress essential at that 
meal, the men appearing in morning coats, 
and the women in handsome high-necked 
and long-sleeved house or calling costumes. 
47 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

WHILE the principal features of the 
home breakfast remain essentially the 
same throughout the year, variety is gained 
by adapting the different articles of food to 
the season of the year in which they are 
served. A lighter, less carbon - producing 
diet is not only more agreeable, but more 
healthful, in warm weather than one con- 
taining much animal food, Avhile the latter 
is preferable and almost necessary in win- 
ter. To this consideration is added the em- 
inent propriety of making one's bills of fare 
seasonable, and thus achieving fitness and 
economy. 

With the desire to aid the housewife in 
her labors, a few selected menus for each 
meal and each season will be given, none of 
them too costly to be beyond the reach of 
people of moderate means, and appended to 
48 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

each bill of fare will be recipes for the prep- 
aration of certain dishes therein mentioned 
which may possibly be unfamiliar to the 
readers of these chapters. 

1. 

Oranges. 

Cracked Wheat. 

Parsley Omelet. Corn Muffins. 

Buttered Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Parsley Omelet. — Five eggs, two table- 
spoonfuls milk, one tablespoonful butter, 
one tablespoonful finely minced parsley ; 
pepper and salt to taste. Beat the whites 
and yolks of the eggs separately and very 
light ; add the milk to the yolks and stir in 
the whites, not mixing them in thoroughly, 
however ; season to taste. Pour into the 
omelet pan in which the butter has been 
heated, and set over the fire in a moderately 
hot spot. Keep the omelet from adhering 
to the pan by slipping a knife between them 
from time to time. Just before the omelet 
is " set," sprinkle it thickly with the chopped 
parsley. When done, fold one half over the 

4 49 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

other, slip to a hot dish, and serve at once, 
as it falls quickly. 

Corn Muffins. — One and a half cups flour, 
one and a half cups yellow corn-meal, three 
tablespoonf uls sugar, two tablespoonf uls but- 
ter, two eggs, one and a half cupfuls milk, 
two teaspoonfuls baking-powxler, half tea- 
spoonful salt. Sift the salt and baking-pow- 
der with the flour ; beat the eggs light ; add 
the milk, the butter (melted), and the sugar. 
Stir in the flour and meal ; beat hard, and 
bake in muffin-tins. 

Buttered Potatoes. — Slice cold boiled po- 
tatoes, heat them in a steamer, thence trans- 
fer them to a hot dish. Put on them a large 
tablespoonful of butter into which have been 
worked a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and 
a saltspoonful of lemon juice. Set the dish, 
covered, over hot water for two minutes, and 
serve. 

2. 

Mandarins. 

Cerealine Porridge. 

Creamed Cod, with Potatoes. Griddle Muffins. 

Coffee. Chocolate. 

Creamed Cod, with Potatoes. — To two cup- 

50 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

fuls of boiled cod, salt or fresh, well picked 
to pieces, allow one cupful of mashed potato. 
Season to taste. Put into the frying-pan over 
the fire with a half -cupful of milk and a large 
tablespoonful of butter. Stir and beat con- 
stantly while it heats, and soften it by add- 
ing to it boiling water at discretion. When 
a creamy, smoking mass, transfer it to a 
hot dish. If you have drawn butter in the 
house, or sauce tartare, or egg sauce left over 
from the first appearance of the fish, this 
may be used in place of the milk and but- 
ter. 

Griddle Muffins. — One egg, one table- 
spoonful butter, one cupful milk, one tea- 
spoonful baking-powder, pinch of salt, flour 
enough to make a soft dough. Mix the milk, 
beaten egg, and melted butter together ; sift 
the baking-powder and salt into one cupful 
of the flour ; then add the rest ; roll out the 
dough as thick as for biscuit, cut into rounds 
with a biscuit-cutter, and bake slowly on a 
griddle, turning when done on one side. Tear 
open, and butter while hot. 



51 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

3. 

Graham Brewis. 

Baked Mince. Feather Muffins. 

Water Cress. 

Stewed Prunes. 

Tea. Cocoa. 

Graham Brewis. — Two cups milk, one ta- 
blespoonful butter, one saltspoonful salt ; 
Graham bread crumbs at discretion. Heat 
the milk in a double "boiler, stir in the butter 
and salt, and add the Graham crumb's until 
the brewis is as thick as ordinary oatmeal 
porridge; cook ten minutes, and eat with 
butter, or butter and sugar. 

Baked Mince. — Two cups chopped beef, 
one cup mashed potato, half an onion minced, 
one cup gravy or one cup boiling water, and 
a tablespoonful of butter, two teaspoonfuls 
Worcestershire sauce; pepper and salt to 
taste. Mix the ingredients well together, and 
put into a greased pudding-dish ; sprinkle a 
few fine crumbs over the top; set in the oven 
and brown. 

Feather Muffins. — One cup flour, one cup 
milk, lump of butter the size of an egg, one 
teaspoonful baking-powder, pinch of salt, 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

two eggs. Beat the eggs light, the whites 
and yolks separately. Into the latter stir the 
milk, the flour, with which has been sifted 
the salt and baking-powder, and the butter, 
melted. Last, add the whipped whites, and 
bake in a quick oven. 

4. 

Fruit. 

Oatmeal Porridge. 

Scallop Patties. Graham Gems. 

Baked Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Scallop Patties. — Cook a pint of scallops 
in their own liquor for ten minutes. Take 
out the scallops and add to the liquor a ta- 
blespoonful of butter rubbed smooth with 
one of flour, and pepper and salt to taste. 
Keturn the scallops to this sauce, and let it 
just come to a boil. Fill scallop-shells with 
the mixture, sprinkle fine crumbs over them, 
dot with bits of butter, and brown in the 
oven. Pass lemon with this. 

Graham Gems.— Two cups Graham flour, 
two cups milk, two eggs, two teaspoonfuls 
butter, two teaspoonfuls sugar, pinch of salt. 
53 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

Melt the butter, warm the milk, and stir these 
into the unbeaten eggs. Add the flour and 
salt, and beat well before baking in heated 
gem-pans in a hot oven. 

5. 

Fruit, 

Corn-meal Hasty Pudding. 

Broiled Fresh Mackerel. Saratoga Potatoes. 

Buttered Toast. 

Tea. Coffee. 

6. 

Wheat-Germ Meal. 

Curried Eggs. Rice Muffins. 

Strawberries and Cream. 

Tea, Cocoa. 

Curried Eggs. — One cup good gravy, six 
hard-boiled eggs, one teaspoonful curry -pow- 
der. Heat the gravy ; stir into it the curry- 
powder wet up in a little cold gravy or water, 
and lay the eggs, each sliced in three, in the 
scalding gravy. Set the saucepan at the side 
of the stove where it will not boil, and let it 
stand ten minutes before sending to table. 

Bice Muffins. — One cup boiled rice, two 
eggs, two cups flour, one tablespoonful melt- 
ed butter, pinch salt, three cups milk. Stir 
54 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

together the milk, eggs, butter, and salt; beat 
in the rice and flour ; bake quickly. 

7. 

Fruit. 

Graham Porridge. 

Broiled Steak. Stewed Potatoes. 

Omelet Bread. 

Coffee. Cocoa. 

Omelet Bread. — Half-cup flour, three eggs, 
one tablespoonful melted butter, one tea- 
spoonful sugar, pinch of salt, milk enough 
to make thick batter. Beat the whites and 
yolks of eggs separately, and very light ; stir 
the butter, flour, milk, salt, sugar, and yolks 
together, and add the frothed whites ; pour 
into a well-greased tin pan, and bake, covered, 
on the top of the stove ; uncover and brown 
in the oven ; eat immediately. 

8. 

Fruit. 

Wbeatena. 

Crisped Smoked Beef. Brown Biscuit. 

Chopped Potatoes. 

Coffee. Chocolate, 

Crisped Smoked Beef. — Boil slices of 
smoked beef for five minutes ; take them 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

out, dry, and put into the frying-pan with a 
tablespoonf ul of butter; stir about until crisp, 
but not too dry. 

Brown Biscuit. — One cup white flour, two 
cups Graham flour, two tablespoonf uls lard, 
two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, a little salt, 
milk enough to make a soft dough. Handle 
the dough as little as possible, and bake 
quickly. 

9. 

Hominy boiled in Milk. 

Pouched Eggs. Fried Bacon. 

Raspberry Shortcake. 

Tea. Cocoa. 

Raspberry Shortcake. — Four cups flour, two 
cups milk, two tablespoonf uls lard, or lard 
and butter, three teaspoonfuls baking-pow- 
der, salt, one quart -raspberries. Boll out a 
little more than half the dough into a sheet 
to cover the bottom of a deep biscuit-pan. 
Spread the berries thickly on this, sprinkle 
with sugar, and of the remaining dough 
make a top crust. Bake in a steady oven, 
cut into squares, and eat hot with butter and 
sugar, or with sugar and cream. 

56 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING 

10. 

Oranges. 

Cracked Wheat. 

Broiled Chicken. Saratoga Potatoes. 

Boston Brown Bread. 

Coffee. Chocolate. 

Boston Brown Bread. — One cup Indian- 
meal, one cup rye-meal, half-cup white flour, 
one cup milk, half-cup molasses, pinch salt, 
one small teaspoonful soda. Sift the meal, 
flour, soda, and salt together, work in the milk 
and molasses, pour into a well-greased brown- 
bread mould, and boil two hours, taking care 
that the water in the outer vessel does not 
come to the top of the mould. Unless you 
have a late breakfast, it is well to cook the 
bread the day before, and warm it the next 
morning. 

57 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 

AS the season advances and the warm 
weather becomes settled, the preference 
should be given to fish and egg dishes rather 
than to those containing meat. For a sultry 
morning a breakfast of which fruit makes an 
important part is welcome generally to both 
palate and digestion. 

The many kinds of delicious fresh fish that 
may easily be procured should hold a prom- 
inent place in summer bills of fare; while 
eggs, usually plentiful and cheap at this 
season, may be prepared in various tempting 

fashions. 

1. 

Strawberries. 

Moulded Cerealine. 

Broiled Shad. New Potatoes. 

Rye Gems. 

Tea. Cocoa. 

Straioberries. — When served as a first 

58 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 

course at breakfast, it is better to have 
them unhulled, and to eat them with the 
fingers, dipping each berry into powdered 
sugar. 

Moulded Cerealine. — Prepare the cerealine 
as usual the day before, and fill small cups 
with it. Turn it out the next morning, and 
eat cold, with cream. 

Bye Gems. — Three cups rye- flour, three 
cups milk, three eggs, one tablespoon ful 
sugar, one tablespoonful butter. Beat hard 
and bake quickly. 

2. 

Red Raspberries. 

Oatmeal. 

Shad Roes in Ambush. 

Potato Croquettes. Dry Toast. 

Radishes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Shad Roes in Ambush. — Two shad roes, 
four hard-boiled eggs, one cup milk, one ta- 
blespoonful flour, two teaspoonfuls butter; 
pepper and salt to taste. Lay the roes in 
boiling water, and let them simmer for ten 
minutes. Drain this off, pour cold water 
upon them, and let them stand in this for 
59 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

ten minutes ; then take them out, and set 
them aside until wanted. Separate the 
whites and yolks of the boiled eggs, chop 
the whites coarsely, and rub the yolks 
through a sieve. Make a white sauce by 
heating the milk and thickening it with the 
butter and flour rubbed together. Eub the 
shad roes to pieces with the back of a spoon, 
taking care not to crush the eggs too much. 
Stir them into half of the white sauce, sea- 
son, let them stand on the fire long enough 
to be heated through, and pour into a pud- 
ding-dish. Mix the whites of the eggs with 
the rest of the sauce, and cover the shad roes 
with this ; last, strew the powdered yolks 
over the top. Cover closely, and set in a hot 
oven for three minutes. 

3. 

Boiled Hominy. 

Chicken Mince. Raw Tomatoes. 

Green Corn Fritters. 

Blackberries and Cream. 

Tea. Cocoa. 

Chicken Mince. — From the bones of a 
cold roast, boiled, or fricasseed chicken cut 
60 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOE SUMMER 

all the meat, and mince it fine with a sharp 
knife, chopping with it two hard -boiled 
eggs. Stir this into a cup of gravy, or, if 
you have none, use instead a cup of white 
sauce made as directed in "Shad Eoes in 
Ambush." Season to taste, fill a pudding- 
dish or scallop-shells with the mixture, and 
serve very hot. 

Green- Com Fritters. — Two cupfuls green 
corn cut from the cob, two eggs, two table- 
spoonfuls milk, one tablespoonf ul melted but- 
ter, flour enough for thin batter. Whip the 
eggs light, beat into these the corn and the 
other ingredients, adding the flour last of all. 
Bake on a griddle. 

4. 

Black Raspberries. 

Wbeaten Grits. 

Broiled Salt Mackerel, Cream Sauce. 

Stewed Potatoes. Graham Pop-Overs. 

Broiled Salt Mackerel. — Soak your fish 
overnight in cold water, and wipe it dry 
before putting it on the gridiron. Broil 
over a clear fire, lay on a hot platter, and 
pour the sauce over it. 

61 



AVIIAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

Cream Sauce. — Make like white sauce 
given above, doubling the quantity of 
butter, seasoning to taste, and using half 
milk, half cream, if you have the latter. 

Graham Pop- Overs. — Three eggs, one 
and a half cups Graham flour, half cup 
white flour, two cups milk, pinch salt. 
Beat the eggs very light, whites and 
yolks together. Add the milk and salt, 
and sift in the flour rather slowly, to pre- 
vent lumping. Strain the batter through 
a sieve, and fill heated gem -pans. Bake 
in a quick oven, and eat immediately. 

5. 

Melons. 

Moulded Oatmeal. 

Sardines au gratin. Fresh Eggs, boiled. 

Sally-Lunn. 

Cocoa. Coffee. 

Sardines cm gratin. — Open a box of sar- 
dines ; take them out carefully and lay them 
in a small pie-plate ; squeeze a few drops of 
a lemon on each fish, sprinkle lightly with 
fine crumbs, and brown in the oven. 

Sally-Lunn. — Two eggs, two tablespoon- 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 

fuls melted butter, one cup milk, pinch salt, 
half yeast -cake, two cups flour. Beat the 
eo-o-s lio^ht ; stir in the butter, salt, and milk, 
then the flour, and last the yeast cake, dis- 
solved. Let it rise at least six hours in a 
very well-greased tin; bake, turn out, and 
eat hot. 

G. 

Graham Flakes. 

Baked Omelet. Parisian Potatoes. 

Quick Biscuit. 

Blackberries and Cream. 

Coffee. Cocoa. 

Baked Omelet. — Five eggs, half cup milk, 
quarter cup fine bread-crumbs, tablespoon- 
f ul melted butter ; pepper and salt to taste. 
Soak the crumbs in the milk ten minutes ; 
beat the eggs very light, the whites and 
yolks separately; stir the soaked crumbs, 
the milk, the butter, and seasoning into the 
yolks, and mix the whites in lightly. Pour 
into a well-greased pudding-dish, and bake 
in a quick oven. 

Parisian Potatoes. — From peeled and 
washed white potatoes scoop out little 
balls with the cutter that comes for this 
6a 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

purpose. Boil them for five minutes, then 
put them in the frying-pan with two table- 
spoonfuls of melted butter. Stir them 
about until every ball is well coated with 
the butter, pour into a colander, and set 
them in the oven until brown. Sprinkle 
with salt and a little minced parsley before 
serving. 

Quick Biscuit. — Two cups flour, one 
tablespoonful mixed lard and butter, one 
cup milk, one heaping teaspoonful baking- 
powder, pinch salt. Handle little, roll out 
and cut quickly, and bake in a steady 
oven. 

7. 

Boiled Rice. 

Fried Pickerel. Stewed Potatoes. 

Cocoa. Coffee. 

Peach Short-Cake. 

Peach Short-Cake. — Make a dough as for 
quick biscuit, doubling the materials. Eoll 
two thirds of the dough into a sheet to fit 
the bottom of a baking-pan, spread thickly 
with sliced peaches, sprinkle with sugar, and 
lay over these a crust made of the remaining 

04 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 

dough. Bake in a steady oven. Split, but- 
ter, and eat hot. 

8. 

Farina Porridge. 

Barbecued Ham. Water-cress. 

Butter Cakes. 

Huckleberries. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Barbecued Ham. — Slice cold boiled corned 
or smoked ham. Fry in its own fat, remove 
the slices to another dish, and keep hot 
while you add to the fat in the pan a tea- 
spoonful of white sugar, three dashes of 
black pepper, a teaspoonful (scant) of made 
mustard, and three tablespoonfuls of vine- 
gar. Boil up once, and pour over the 
ham. 

Butter Cakes. — Prepare a dough as for 
quick biscuit, roll it out quarter of an inch 
thick, and cut into small rounds. Roll each 
of these out until as thin as cookies, prick 
with a fork, and bake in a quick oven. 
When done, butter well. Leave in the 
oven half a minute longer, and send hot 
to table. 

r> 65 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

9. 

Oatmeal. 

Omelet with Corn. Deviled Tomatoes. 

Cold Bread. 

Peaches and Cream. 

Iced Tea. Coffee. 

Omelet ivith Com. — Prepare as you do 
baked omelet ; but at the last, before put- 
ting into the pan, add a cupful of green corn 
cut from the cob. Pour the omelet into a fry- 
ing-pan containing two tablespoonfuls of but- 
ter, and cook, loosening it constantly from 
the bottom with a knife to prevent its scorch- 
ing. When done, double over and serve. 

Deviled Tomatoes. — Cut fresh tomatoes 
into thick slices, broil on a fine wire gridiron 
over a clear fire, and when clone lay in a 
dish, and pour over them a sauce like that 
made for barbecued ham, substituting two 
tablespoonfuls of olive oil or of melted but- 
ter for the ham fat. 

66 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER 

10. 

Peaches and Pears. 

Moulded Hominy. 

Broiled Bluefish. Stuffed Potatoes. 

Corn-meal Gems. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Stuffed Potatoes. — Bake eight large, fine 
potatoes until soft; cut off the tops, and 
scoop out the contents ; add to them one egg 
whipped light, two tablespoonfuls melted 
butter, half cup milk, pepper and salt. Beat 
all together, and return to the skins. Set in 
an oven, top upwards, long enough to be- 
come well heated, and serve. 

Corn-meal Gems. — Three eggs, two cups 
milk, two tablespoonfuls butter, two cups 
corn-meal, one cup flour, two teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder. Work the butter and milk 
into the meal, then add the other materials, 
the flour last. Have your gem-pans very 
hot, and bake half an hour in a hot oven. 
67 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN 

DURING the early part of the autumn, 
and indeed until late in the winter, the 
supply of fruit is only less abundant than in 
the summer. Melons and peaches go first, 
but their place is taken by grapes, pears, ap- 
ples, bananas, and, later, mandarins, tanger- 
ines, and oranges. Meat now begins to be a 
more necessary article in the bill of fare. By 
the exercise of a little ingenuity, left-overs 
from the dinner of the previous day may be 
rendered even more appetizing than they 
were in their first estate. 

1. 

Peaches and Pears. 

Oatmeal. 

Veal Cutlets d la Maitre d'Hutel. 

Potatoes hashed with Cream. 

Quick Sally-Lunn. 
Cocoa. Coffee. 

Veal Cutlets a la Maitre (V Hotel.— Qui veal 

68 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN 

cutlets into neat pieces, and pound each with 
a mallet. Broil over a clear fire, transfer to 
a hot dish, and lay on each cutlet a small 
piece of maitre oV hotel butter. Set in a hot 
corner, covered, for five minutes before send- 
ing to table. 

Maitre cV Hotel Butter. — Into one cupful 
of good butter work a tablespoonful of lem- 
on juice and two tablespoonfuls of finely 
chopped parsley, with a little salt and white 
pepper. Pack into a small jar, cover, and 
keep in a cool place. It is useful to put on 
chops, steaks, or cutlets, or to mix with po- 
tatoes. 

Potatoes hashed with Cream. — Chop cold 
boiled potatoes fine, and stir them into a 
cup of hot milk in which has been melt- 
ed two tablespoonfuls of butter. Pepper 
and salt to taste. Let the potatoes become 
heated through before you serve them. If 
you have cream, use this and half as much 
butter. 

Quick Sally-Limn. — Three eggs, half cup 
butter, one cup milk, three cups flour, two 
teaspoonfuls baking-powder, half teaspoon- 
69 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

ful salt. Stir the butter, melted, into the 
beaten yolks ; add the milk, the flour (into 
which the baking-powder has been sifted), 
and the whites last. Bake in one loaf, in 
a steady oven. 

2. 

Cracked Wheat. 

Bananas. 

Minced Mutton with Poached Eggs. 

Buttered Toast. Baked Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Minced Mutton with Poached Eggs. — 
Chop cold boiled or roast mutton quite fine. 
Put two cupfuls of this into the frying-pan 
with half an onion minced, and a half- 
cupful of good gravy. If you have none, 
use instead a gill of hot water and a lump 
of butter the size of an egg. Just before 
taking the mince from the fire, stir into 
it a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce 
or two tablespoonfuls of tomato catsup. 
Heap the mince on small squares of but- 
tered toast laid on a hot platter, and place 
a poached egg on top of each mound. Serve 

very hot. 

70 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN 

3. 

Apples. 

Wheat Granules. 

Soused Mackerel. Potato Balls. 

Quick Waffles. 

Cocoa. Coffee. 

Soused Mackerel. — These may be pur- 
chased canned at nearly any good grocery, 
and make an excellent breakfast dish. 

Potato Balls. — To two cupfuls cold mashed 
potato add an egg, a teaspoonf ul of butter, and 
salt and pepper to taste. Form with floured 
hands into small round or long balls, and fry 
in deep fat. 

Quick Waffles. — Three cups flour, one 
tablespoonful butter, two eggs, two cups 
milk, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, a lit- 
tle salt. Beat the eggs light, add the milk, 
butter, and salt. Stir in the flour with the 
baking-powder last. Grease your waffle- 
irons well with a piece of fat pork. 

4. 

Grapes. 

Wheaten Grits. 

Broiled Steak with Mushrooms. 

Fried Egg-plant. Unleavened Bread. 

Coffee. Chocolate. 

71 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

Broiled Steak with Mushrooms. — Broil 
your steak over a clear tire. Before you put 
it on, open a can of mushrooms, take out 
half of them, and cut each mushroom in 
two. Saute them in a frying-pan with a lit- 
tle butter, unless you have a cup of bouillon 
or clear beef soup or gravy at hand. If you 
have, let them simmer in this for ten min- 
utes, and when you dish your steak, pour 
gravy and mushrooms over it. Leave it cov- 
ered in the oven five minutes before sending 
to table. 

Unleavened Bread. — Two cups flour, one 
tablespoonful butter, a pinch salt, enough 
water to make a dough. Knead this well, 
roll out very thin, cut in rounds with a bis- 
cuit cutter, prick with a fork, and bake in a 
hot oven. 

5. 

Pears. 

Corn-meal Mush. 

Dropped Fish-cakes. Saratoga Potatoes. 

Simple Griddle Cakes. 

Dropped Fish-cakes. — One cup of salt cod 
picked very fine, half cup milk, one table- 

72 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS- FOR AUTUMN 

spoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls flour, one 
egg, pepper to taste. Make a white sauce 
of the flour, butter, and milk, stir the fish 
into this, add the egg, beaten light, season, 
and drop by the spoonful into boiling lard, 
as is done with fritters. 

Simple Griddle Cakes. — Four cups sour 
milk, one small teaspoonful baking -soda, 
salt, flour for batter. Stir well and bake 
quickly. 

6. 

Grapes. 

Rye-meal Porridge. 

Broiled Sausages. Stewed Potatoes. 

Wheat-flour Gems. 

" Broiled Sausages. — Make sausage-meat 
into quite thin cakes with the hands, lay 
them on a gridiron, and broil them over a 
hot fire. 

Wheat -flour Gems. — Two cups flour, one 
cup milk, one tablespoonful melted butter, 
two eggs, saltspoonful salt. Beat the eggs 
light, stir in the milk, the butter, the salt. 
Sift in the flour, stir briskly, and bake in 
gem-pans in a hot oven. 
73 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 
7. 

Bananas. 

Oatmeal. 

Clam Fritters. Boiled Potatoes. 

English Muffins. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Clam Fritters. — Two dozen clams, one 
egg, one cup milk, two small cups flour, 
or enough for thin batter, salt and pep- 
per. Chop the clams fine, and stir them 
into the batter made of the milk, clam 
liquor, beaten eggs, and the flour. Season 
to taste, and fry by the spoonful in very hot 
lard. 

English Muffins. — Two cups milk, one 
tablespoonful butter, one teaspoonful sugar, 
saltspoonful salt, half of a yeast-cake. Four 
cups flour, or enough to make a very stiff 
batter. Set to rise for about three hours, or 
until the batter is like a honeycomb, then 
bake on a soapstone griddle in very large 
muffin- rings. Make them the day before 
they are wanted, and, when ready to use 
them, split, toast lightly, butter, and eat 
hot. 

74 



FAMILY BKEAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN 

8. 

Oranges. 

Large Hominy. 

Fried Smelts. Moulded Potato. 

Hasty Muffins. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Moulded Potato. — Press cold mashed po- 
tato into small teacups ; turn out, brush over 
with yolk of egg, put a bit of butter on top 
of each, and brown in the oven. 

Hasty Muffim. — Two cups flour, two eggs, 
one tablespoonful mixed butter and lard, 
two teaspoonfuls white sugar, one teaspoon- 
f ul baking-powder, saltspoonful salt, one cup 
milk. Into the eggs, beaten very light, stir 
the melted shortening, the sugar, the milk, 
and the flour, well mixed with the salt 
and baking-powder. Stir well, and bake in 
thoroughly greased tins. 

9. 

Grapes. 

Cerealine cooked in Milk. 

Egg Timbales with Cheese. Lyonnaise Potatoes. 

Wheat Puffs. 

Egg Timbales with Cheese. — Six eggs, one 
75 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

gill milk, salt and pepper to taste, two table- 
spoonfuls grated cheese. Beat the eggs well 
without separating the yolks and whites, add 
the milk and seasoning, stir in the cheese, and 
pour into well-greased little tin pans with 
straight sides ; set these in a pan of hot wa- 
ter, and bake in the oven ; when the egg is 
firm, turn out on a flat dish, and pour a white 
sauce over them. 

Lyonnaise Potatoes. — Slice cold boiled po- 
tatoes into neat rounds ; cut a medium-sized 
onion into thin slices, and put it with a good 
tablespoonful of butter or bacon dripping 
into the frying-pan ; when the onion is colored, 
add the potatoes, about two cupfuls, and stir 
them about until they are a light brown. 
Strew with chopped parsley, and serve. 

Wheat Puffs — Two cups milk, two eggs, 
two cups flour. Beat hard and very smooth, 
and bake in greased and heated gem-pans or 
earthenware cups. Eat at once. 
76 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 

AWOKD may be said here anent the cook- 
ing of porridges. There are as many 
theories about this apparently simple affair as 
there are denominational differences in theo- 
logical circles. One housekeeper soaks the 
oatmeal overnight ; another puts it on when 
the fire is made ; another fifteen minutes be- 
fore breakfast. Mrs. A. soaks hers in cold 
water, Mrs. B. uses boiling, while Mrs. C. in- 
clines to having the water just hot. One 
stirs the porridge frequently ; another saj^s it 
is ruined if touched with a spoon. 

On general principles, one may say that 
oatmeal is never the worse for a soaking, al- 
though some varieties need it less than oth- 
ers ; that unless carefully and evenly cooked 
it is apt to become lumpy without stirring 
or beating ; and that the degree of stiffness 
to which it should be brought must de- 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

pencl upon the taste of those who are to 

eat it. 

1. 

Oranges. 

Graham Mush. 

Sausage Rolls. Rye Muffins. 

Baked Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Sausage Bolls. — Make a good pastry by 
chopping into two cups of flour four table- 
spoonfuls of butter, making this to a paste 
with half a cup of ice- water, and rolling out 
three times. Have the ingredients and uten- 
sils very cold, and handle the paste as little 
and as lightly as possible. Cut the pastry 
with a sharp knife into strips about three 
inches square. On one of these lay cooked 
and minced sausage-meat, and cover it with 
another square of the same size. Pinch the 
edges together, and bake in a moderate oven. 
Proceed thus until all the materials are 
used. 

Rye Muffins. — One cup white flour, two 
cups rye flour, two eggs, two teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder, one tablespoonf ul butter, one 
tablespoonful sugar, saltspoonful salt, milk 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 

enough for stiff batter. Beat well, and bake 
in muffin-tins. 

2. 

Mandarins. 

Boiled Hominy. 

Pork Tenderloins. Apple Sauce. 

Crumpets. 

Coffee. Cocoa. 

Crumpets. — Two cups milk, three cups 
flour, three tablespoonfuls butter, saltspoon- 
ful salt, half yeast-cake dissolved in warm 
water. Warm the milk ; beat in the salted 
flour, the melted butter, and the yeast. Let 
this sponge stand in a warm place until light. 
Bake in greased muffin-rings on a hot grid- 
dle, or in muffin-pans in the oven. In either 
case fill the pans or rings only half full, as 
the crumpets will rise in baking. 

3. 

Oatmeal. 

Veal Croquettes. Stewed Potatoes. 

Sour-milk Muffins. 

Stewed Prunes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Veal Croquettes. — One cup cold veal, minced 

79 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

fine; tiny bit of onion, scalded and chopped; 
half teaspoonful parsley; one cup milk, or 
half milk, half soup stock; one tablespoon- 
ful flour ; one tablespoonful butter ; pepper 
and salt to taste ; one egg. Cook the butter 
and flour together until they bubble ; pour 
the milk or milk and stock on them, and stir 
until they thicken. Kemove from the fire, and 
pour upon the beaten egg ; then stir in the 
meat, seasoned with the onion, parsley, pep- 
per, and salt. Set this aside until cold enough 
to handle, then form into croquettes between 
the floured hands. Koll in egg, and then in 
fine cracker crumbs, and drop into boiling 
lard. They are better prepared an hour be- 
fore frying. 

In making veal croquettes, oyster liquor 
may be used in place of the stock, and a few 
oysters chopped with the veal will improve 
the flavor. 

Sour-milk Muffins. — One egg, two cups 
sour milk, half teaspoonful salt, half tea- 
spoonful soda dissolved in hot water ; flour 
to make a stiff batter. Beat hard, and bake 
quickly. 

80 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 



4. 

Bananas. 

Wheat Flakes. 

Apples and Bacon. Loaf Corn Bread 

Saratoga Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Aj^les and Bacon. — Fry thin slices of ba- 
con crisp in its own fat. Take up the bacon 
and keep hot while you fry in the fat left in 
the pan apples sliced across and cored, but 
not peeled. Arrange the apples in the 
centre of the dish, the bacon around the 
sides. 

Loaf Corn Bread. — Two eggs, two cups 
milk, two cups corn meal, one cup flour, one 
tablespoonful lard, one tablespoonful sugar, 
two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, saltspoon- 
f ul salt. Beat the eggs light, add the melted 
lard, the milk, the flour, and meal, sifted with 
the baking-powder and salt, and beat very 
hard. Bake in a round tin, one with a tube 
in the middle, if you have it. 
6 81 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 



5. 

Grapes. 

Cerealine. 

Broiled Salt Mackerel d la Maitre d'Hotel. 

Stewed Potatoes. Risen Muffins. 

Tea. Cocoa. 

Broiled Salt Mackerel a la Maitre oV Hotel. — 
Soak the mackerel overnight. In the morn-" 
ing wipe it dry, broil, lay on a hot dish, and 
anoint plentifully w T ith maitre oVhotel butter, 
made by directions given in the preceding 
chapter. 

Risen Muffins. — Two cups milk, two eggs, 
one tablespoonful lard, one tablespoonl'ul 
sugar, saltspoonful salt, half yeast cake dis- 
solved in a little warm water, flour enough 
for batter. Set a sponge of all the ingredi- 
ents except the eggs to rise overnight. In 
the morning beat these light, add them to 
the batter, and bake the muffins in tins in a 
quick oven. 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOE WINTER 



6. 

Wheat Germ-Meal Porridge. 

Broiled Ham. Canned Pea Pancakes. 

Buttered Toast. 

Baked Apples. 

Cocoa. Coffee. 

Canned Pea Pancakes. — One can of green 
pease, one egg, one cup milk, two teaspoon- 
f uls melted butter, half cupful flour, half tea- 
spoonful baking-powder, salt to taste. Open 
the can several hours before it is to be used, 
and drain off the liquor. Kiuse the pease in 
cold water. Mash them with the back of a 
spoon, and mix with them the butter and salt. 
Make a batter of the egg, the milk, and the 
flour, with the baking-powder. Add the 
pease, beat well, and bake on a griddle. 

7. 

Tangerines. 

Rice Porridge. 

Moulded Eggs. Ham Toast. 

Baked Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Moulded Eggs. — On the bottom of well- 
buttered patty - pans with straight sides 

83 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

sprinkle finely minced parsley and a little 
pepper and salt. Break an egg into each 
pan, set them in a large pan filled with boil- 
ing water, and bake until set. Turn out on 
a flat dish, and pour a white sauce over 
them. 

Ham Toast — To every cupful of chopped 
cold boiled ham put a half - teaspoonful of 
made mustard, as much butter, and a little 
Worcestershire sauce. Trim the crust from 
slices of bread, toast and butter them, and 
spread them with the chopped ham. 

8. 

Bananas. 

Oatmeal. 

Broiled Smoked Salmon. Breakfast Biscuit, 

Savory Potatoes. 

Cocoa. Coffee. 

Breakfast Biscuit. — Two cups milk, half 
cake yeast dissolved in warm water, two tea- 
spoonfuls white sugar, two tablespoonfuls 
lard, one tablespoonfnl butter, saltspoonful 
salt, flour for soft dough. Warm the milk, 
melt the shortening, and set the sponge over- 
night. The next morning roll into a sheet, 
84 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 

cut out with a biscuit cutter, let them rise 
twenty minutes in the pan, and bake. 

Savory Potatoes. — Two cupfuls cold pota- 
toes sliced, half cup gravy, quarter of an 
onion sliced. Heat the gravy in a frying- 
pan with the onion, add the potatoes, and 
leave them until they are brown, stirring 
often. Serve potatoes and gravy together. 

9. 

Oranges. 

Cracked Wheat. 

Lyonnaise Tripe. Boiled Potatoes. 

Bread-and-milk Cakes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Lyonnaise Tripe. — One pound boiled tripe, 
one onion," one tablespoonful butter, one cup- 
ful stewed tomatoes, pepper and salt. Brown 
the onion in the butter, add the tripe, cut 
into neat pieces, add the seasoning. Brown 
lightly, add the tomatoes, and, when these 
are hot, serve. 

Bread-and-milk Cakes. — One cup fine bread 
crumbs, two cups milk, one egg, two tea- 
spoonfuls melted butter, saltspoonful salt, 
two tablespoonfuls flour. Soak the crumbs 

85 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

in the milk ten minutes ; beat in the whipped 
egg, the butter, the salt, and the flour. Bake 
on a well-greased griddle. 

10. 

Apples. 

Graham Flakes. 

Fried Scallops. Light Loaf. 

Hashed Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Juried Scallops. — Stew the scallops five 
minutes in their own liquor. Take out, drain, 
and roll first in egg, then in fine cracker 
crumbs. Fry to a light brown in deep fat, 
lay on a sheet of brown paper in a hot colan- 
der, and serve on a small napkin laid on a 
heated dish. 

Light Loaf. — One cup milk, one tablespoon- 
ful sugar, one tablespoonf ul butter, two eggs, 
two cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking-pow- 
der, saltspoonful salt. Beat the eggs light ; 
add the butter, melted, the sugar, salt, 
milk, and, last, the flour sifted with the 
baking-powder. Bake in one loaf, and serve 
hot. 

Hashed Potatoes. — Chop cold potatoes fine, 

86 



FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER 

have ready in a pan a tablespoonf ul of bacon 
dripping made very hot, stir into this two 
cupfuls of the potatoes, and toss about until 
well browned. 

87 



AT LUNCHEON 

PKOPEELY treated, luncheon may be the 
pleasantest meal of the clay. Simple 
or elaborate, as the housekeeper's taste may 
dictate, always informal, it is more comfort- 
able than the breakfast because less hurried, 
more agreeable than the dinner because less 
ceremonious. 

The table at luncheon'may either be set as 
for breakfast, with a pretty colored cloth to 
cover it ; or a prettier way, if one has a table 
with a handsome top, is to spread on this a 
large luncheon napkin that only partially con- 
ceals the polished surface. One or more of 
these napkins may be used, according to their 
size and the amount of space you wish covered. 
A fringed doily or a crocheted or netted mat 
may be laid at each place to protect the ta- 
ble-top from the heated plate. Other mats 
should be laid under the hot dishes of meat, 

88 



AT LUNCHEON 

etc., while a tile or a trivet will hold the 
chocolate or teapot. 

A w T riter on household decoration in a re- 
cent article in a popular magazine enlarged 
upon the charming effect produced by paint- 
ing a table-top white, and thus producing a 
good background upon which to display old 
blue-and-white china. This would doubtless 
be extremely pretty, but in the practical 
mind the suspicion arises that, by the time 
the bare white table had held hot dishes dur- 
ing half a dozen meals, its surface would be 
marked with yellow rings that would leave 
no choice to the housewife but to conceal the 
whole of the defaced expanse with a table- 
cloth. A good furniture polish, or a simple 
mixture of sweet-oil and turpentine, applied 
with a piece of flannel, will restore the beauty 
of a hard-wood table-top, but it is question- 
able if the white paint could be so readily 
renovated. 

The flowers that should have freshened the 
breakfast board must not be lacking at lunch- 
eon-time. The table may be spread with a 
luncheon set of china, or, if one does not own 
89 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

this, with the same plates, etc., that are used at 
breakfast and at tea. The tea-tray, with its 
burden of sugar-bowl, cream - pitcher, tea- 
caddy, and dainty cups and saucers, may stand 
in front of the mistress of the house, while at 
her elbow may be the five-o'clock-tea crane 
bearing its kettle of boiling water; or a small- 
er hot-water urn in brass, copper, or silver, 
with a spirit-lamp under it, may be on the 
table near her right hand, with the teapot 
beside it. If the small hot-water pot is used, 
and the table is bare, a tray should hold the 
kettle and stand, lest a drop of blazing alco- 
hol should blister the polished surface of the 
wood. When cocoa or chocolate is drunk at 
luncheon, the paraphernalia of kettle and 
spirit-lamp is, of course, unnecessary. 

There are some brands of cocoa for which 
it is claimed by the manufacturers that they 
are excellent when prepared for use by sim- 
ply pouring the boiling water on the powder. 
So far as the writer's experience has gone, 
however, there is not one of them that is not 
benefited by being boiled for a few minutes 
before serving. 

90 



AT LUNCHEON 

Nearly everything that is to compose the 
ordinary luncheon for the family may be put 
upon the table at one time. Of course there 
must be an exception to this rule when the 
first course consists of soup or bouillon ; but 
even then all the cold dishes may be in place 
when the guests are seated. The waiting 
need be only of the simplest, unless formality 
is desired. Those about the table may help 
themselves and one another, while the duties 
of the waitress may be confined to passing 
the dishes that are on the sideboard, chang- 
ing the plates, bringing in hot dishes, etc. 

The truth, often reiterated, that women 
cook only for men, and that a woman would 
never take the trouble to prepare anything 
for herself beyond a cup of tea and a slice of 
toast, is strongly emphasized by the careless- 
ness many of them manifest in the matter of 
luncheon. Of course, when there are several 
in the family the needs and tastes of others 
have to be consulted ; but when the mistress 
of the house has to sit down to a solitary 
meal, or at best to one that is the nursery 
dinner for two or three children whose diet is 
91 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

of the simplest, she is apt to let her luncheon 
consist of little more than a " cold bite," and 
the — almost — invariable cup of tea. Such a 
course must affect the health sooner or later, 
and is a species of carelessness of self against 
which a woman must guard if she does not 
wish to reap its fruits in headaches, dyspep- 
sia, and general depression of the system. 
Without getting up a troublesome menu, she 
may yet devise divers tempting little dishes 
which will coax her appetite. She will feel 
happier and work better for a substantial al- 
though not heavy meal in the middle of the 
day. 

Luncheon is pre-eminently the meal at 
which to make use of potted meats, sardines, 
pates, and the like. There are many of these 
from which to make a choice. A luncheon is 
not to be despised that begins with a cup of 
bouillon, or with a plate of soup left over from 
last night's dinner, continues with fresh rolls 
or biscuit or muffins, or toasted crackers, or 
good cold bread — white or brown — cut in 
delicate slices, and one of the pates put up 
by certain French and American companies, 
92 



AT LUNCHEON 

or a Gotha liver sausage, or a few sardines, 
accompanied by a cup of tea or cocoa, and 
concludes with some simple sweet, such as 
marmalade, jam, or fruit. 

But luncheon need not be confined to cold 
delicacies that must be bought outright. It 
is the time for using up left-overs, for trying 
new recipes for side-dishes and entrees, for 
the housekeeper to learn for herself and to 
teach her cook the daintiest methods of util- 
izing those remnants which the uninitiated 
might stigmatize as "scraps.'' Great is the 
variety of styles in which these may be em- 
ployed. That bit of cold fish from last even- 
ing's dinner may be picked to shreds, stirred 
into a white sauce, and baked in a scallop- 
shell. Or it may be mixed with half as much 
mashed potato, moistened with boiling water 
and a little melted butter, and tossed up into 
a dish of creamed fish. 

The scraps of pastry left from pie-making 
and the sausage or two that were spared at 
breakfast may compose a sausage-roll, the 
cold potato and the fragment of steak may 
be turned into a hash, and odd slices of cold 
93 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

lamb, mutton, or veal are just the thing for 
croquettes and fritters. And of the odds and 
ends of poultry what delicious compounds 
may be made ! Croquettes, scallops, minces, 
fritters, filling for pdt&s, salad enough for one 
or two if eked out with lettuce, and a dozen 
other dainty plats. Or a tiny omelet, either 
baked or saute, may be prepared ; and when 
one begins to count up the appetizing dishes 
which may be made of eggs, the list seems 
without an end. Even when several people 
are to partake of the meal a variety of little 
dishes may take the place of a single large 
one for which new material Avould have to be 
purchased. In the cultivation or creation 
of a talent as a rechavffeuse true economy 
consists. 

In some homes luncheon is a quite elabo- 
rate affair, and comprises several courses, in- 
cluding, perhaps, a soup or bouillon, a meat 
course, a salad, and fruit or sweets. In the 
majority of establishments owned by people 
of moderate means, however, the meal is 
simpler, but need be no less delightful. Many 
people can eat muffins, griddle- cakes, and 
94 



AT LUNCHEON 

other hot breads at noon with less after-dis- 
comfort than at any other season, and dishes 
of this sort are usually acceptable on the 
luncheon-table. With their help the meal 
can hardly fail to be appetizing. 
95 



A SMALL LUNCHEON 

LUNCHEONS are among the most popu- 
lar forms of entertainment that can be 
selected, when only a limited number are to 
be honored. To these affairs men are seldom 
invited, and there are not wanting those 
among the sterner sex who do not hesitate to 
attribute their banishment to desire on the 
women's part for the opportunity to chat un- 
interruptedly and unreservedly on those sub- 
jects presumed dear to their hearts — dress, 
babies, and servants. Other men go so far as 
to hint that gossip, and even scandal, engage 
the tongues of these much-maligned women, 
while even the most charitable husbands and 
brothers cannot refrain from openly express- 
ing their pity for the unfortunate ladies de- 
barred, for even a limited period, from the 
delights of the society of the lords of crea- 
tion. 

96 



A SMALL LUNCHEON 

Casting aside the intimations respecting 
gossip or scandal as unworthy of notice, and 
tracing the animus of the other slurs to their 
source, in the overpowering jealousy on the 
part of their perpetrators that they are ex- 
cluded from the select assemblages they af- 
fect to condemn, it may be said in refutation 
of the last charge that there are few women 
who do not agree in considering a luncheon 
among the most delightful of their social ex- 
periences. An invitation to one is usually 
hailed with joy, and a woman will undergo a 
good deal of inconvenience sooner than con- 
sent to decline it. 

A luncheon is elastic in its nature, and may 
be of any size the hostess's fancy or judg- 
ment dictates. One woman may invite an- 
other to share the meal with her, and to help 
form that solitude a deux so delightful to two 
congenial souls. In such a case a long and 
elaborate menu is out of place, and not in the 
best form. What dishes there are should be 
wisely selected, perfectly prepared, and care- 
fully served ; but a multiplication of courses 
or viands is unnecessary, and savors of vulgar 
7 97 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

display. The same principle applies at any 
small luncheon. The definition of size is a 
rather difficult matter, but a company of this 
sort of not more than five or six persons may 
fitly be called small. With every addition 
to the number the need increases for more 
items in the menu. 

For a small and unpretentious luncheon 
the invitations should not be issued long in 
advance, unless the hostess finds it necessary 
to do so in order to secure the presence of 
some especial guests. In that case, if the 
entertainment is to be very simple, it is as 
well to inform the guests of the fact when 
writing to them. Either a written or a ver- 
bal invitation is admissible. It should al- 
ways be clearly understood, however, that 
the engagement, when once made, is no less 
binding than if it were a promise to attend 
the largest and most ceremonious dinner. 
Indeed, fidelity to one's acceptance and 
prompt attendance are even more obligatory 
at a small than at a large affair, because at 
the latter the defection of one person is less 
noticeable than it would be were very few 
98 



A SMALL LUNCHEON 

expected to be present. In either case fail- 
ure to keep the engagement is a grave breach 
of etiquette. It may be said, in this connec- 
tion, that more of a compliment is implied 
by the request to be one of a small and — by 
inference — select band than is shown when 
the invitations embrace a larger party. 

An even number is usually better than an 
odd number at a luncheon, unless the table 
is a large round one, about which the guests 
can gather without leaving an awkward gap 
on one side. 

The covering for the table may either be a 
very pretty luncheon cloth with a little color 
about it, or else of plain white. Of course, 
should the hostess desire to have any one 
tint predominate in her table appointments, 
it is better to have the cloth of that shade 
or of white. If artificial light is required, 
candles give a pleasanter light than any thing- 
else, and one candelabrum of several branch- 
es is generally enough for a small table. 
Should this not sufficiently illuminate the 
room, the gas may be lighted and partially 
turned down, or a lamp or two may be placed 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

on a mantel-shelf or on a bracket. There 
should always be flowers in the centre of the 
table, preferably a flat or low dish or vase, 
for where there are few guests they should 
be able to see each others' faces, instead of 
being obliged to dodge around a tall orna- 
ment that effectually conceals those seated 
on one side of the board from those placed 
on the other. Bouquets de corsage, while al- 
ways pretty, are not essential at a simple 
luncheon, nor are cards necessary. 

The table should be spread with the dain- 
tiest china and silver. At each plate must 
be the usual articles— knife, fork, tumbler, 
butter-plate, and napkin. A knife and fork 
for each course may be laid by every plate, 
the knives on the right side, the forks on the 
left. A roll or two or three sticks of bread 
must lie on each napkin. The usual little 
dishes of olives, salted almonds, pea-nuts or 
pistachio-nuts, radishes, bonbons, etc., should 
stand here and there, and by their color or 
sparkle add to the beauty of the repast. 

The^ first course may be either beef or 
chicken bouillon. This is served in bouillon- 
100 



A SMALL LUNCHEON 

cups, with covers and saucers, if one has 
them, or, if not, in tea or after-dinner coffee- 
cups. The latter are a trifle small, but one 
need not go to the other extreme, as was 
done at a lunch given not long ago, where 
the bouillon was served in mugs nearly as 
large as those commonly used for shaving, 
and quite as thick and heavy. It was im- 
possible to help recalling the saying of the 
woman who declared that when she took 
coffee from one of the breakfast cups in 
use at most hotels she felt as though she 
were drinking it over the side of a stone wall. 
Bouillon is usually sipped with a spoon, how- 
ever, although it is not out of the way to 
raise the cup to the lips. 

The bouillon may either be on the table 
when the guests enter the room, or be 
brought in as soon as they are seated. It is 
followed by fish in some dainty form, as 
creamed fish, creamed or buttered lobster, 
croquettes of lobster, oj^sters, or fish ; or oys- 
ter or lobster pates. These are not passed in 
the dish, but are brought in already served, 
and a plate holding a portion placed in front 
101 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

of each guest. Kolls, French bread, or bread 
and butter are then passed. 

The next course in a luncheon of this size 
need not be an entree, although one may be 
introduced here. Sweetbreads, chicken cut- 
lets, timbales of some sort, a vol-au-vent — any 
one of these will answer, but there is no vio- 
lation of rules if it is omitted altogether at a 
small luncheon. In that case the next course 
— the piece cle resistance — may follow the fish 
directly, and may consist of French chops 
with pease, and potatoes daintily prepared, or 
chicken broiled, fried, or cooked in some 
attractive fashion, or broiled tenderloins of 
beef with mushrooms, or birds. 

After this the salad appears, and may be 
of chicken, lobster, shrimps, oysters, or to- 
matoes, avoiding, of course, any meat or fish 
that has appeared earlier in the meal, even 
although in another form. The olives should 
be passed with this, and, indeed, may have 
gone the rounds during and between the 
other course, as have the salted nuts and the 
radishes. 

The salad eaten, the table is cleared and 
102 



• A SMALL LUNCHEON 

crumbed, and the dessert brought in — ices in 
some pretty form, accompanied by fancy 
cakes. Fruit may succeed this, or it may be 
omitted, and the final cup of chocolate or cof- 
fee served at once. The bonbons now re- 
ceive attention, and are usually carried into 
the drawing-room by the guests, who, being 
women, seem to find almost as much enjoy- 
ment in nibbling these as men do in discuss- 
ing their post-prandial cigars. 
103 



A LARGE LUNCHEON. 

A MUCH more ceremonious affair than 
that described in the preceding chapter 
is the large luncheon, where there are present 
anywhere from eight to twenty guests. The 
invitations for this are issued at least ten days, 
and often three weeks or more, previous to 
the date for which the guests are asked, and 
should be written, not verbal, except when 
given to an intimate friend. The recipient 
should reply at once. The hour set is usually 
one or half -past one, and the most punctil- 
ious promptness should always be observed. 
Nothing short of a serious accident or illness 
or a death in the family can justify any one 
in breaking such an engagement. 

" People don't always keep that precept,'' 

says a woman, decidedly. " I can give more 

than one example to the contrary from my 

own experience. Here is an instance. I had 

104 



A LARGE LUNCHEON 

a letter not long ago from a friend living out 
of town, begging me to fix a time when she 
could come and see me. She dreaded mak- 
ing the trip into town when it was doubtful 
if she would find me at home. I knew she 
had few outings, so I wrote and asked her to 
lunch with me upon a certain day, adding 
that there would be a couple of other old 
friends present whom she would be glad to 
meet again. The appointed day came, and 
was misty and drizzly. It never occurred to 
me that the weather would keep any one 
housed, and at the lunch hour 'the guests 
were met, the feast was set' — or, at least, 
two of the guests were there — but the one in 
whose honor they had been invited failed to 
appear. A whole mortal hour did we wait 
for that woman. Then in despair we sat 
down to a luncheon that had been in no wise 
improved by the delay. It was to have been 
a partie carree, and one side of the table 
looked wof ully blank and bare." 

"But did you not get a satisfactory ex- 
planation of your friend's absence ?" queries 
an interested listener. 
105 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

" Only a note the next day, stating that as 
it had stormed, she had supposed I would 
not expect her. It never seemed to occur to 
her that she ought at least to have tele- 
graphed." 

"I had an experience that equals that," 
chimes in another. " I had promised a young 
girl friend a lunch party whenever she should 
come to the city. Just before the holidays 
she wrote to me that she would be in town 
for a week. I was run to death with Christ- 
mas preparations and social engagements, but 
I sent her a note at once, asking her to fix a 
day for her luncheon, and enclosing the list 
of guests — most of them old school friends — 
whom I would invite to meet her. She re- 
plied, setting a day. I went to no end of trou- 
ble and expense to get up the most recherche 
luncheon I could devise. Just before the ap- 
pointed hour one of the guests, who had 
promised to call for my young friend and 
bring her to my house, brought instead a ver- 
bal message that Jennie ' was not very well, 
and would be unable to come. She was ex- 
tremely sorry,' etc. As I learned from an- 
106 



A LARGE LUNCHEON 

other source that she went to the theatre that 
night, I concluded her indisposition, what- 
ever it was, had not been very serious." 

One marvels at the bad habits of good so- 
ciety in hearing such tales as these, but they 
are unfortunately common. Some persons 
appear to be deficient in a sense of good- 
breeding, as others are in an eye for color or 
an ear for music, and all the maxims in the 
world seem inadequate to instil what is miss- 
ing. 

One general principle may be laid down 
for the following of any woman who thinks 
of giving a large luncheon — donH undertake 
too much. If you cannot afford to engage 
the most difficult dishes from a caterer, be 
very sure that your cook is equal to prepar- 
ing them in a satisfactory manner. Better 
have a few things, and have them well done, 
than a long menu of indifferently cooked vi- 
ands. A large luncheon is no light under- 
taking at the best, except to those who have 
a practised chef and an expert butler, and a 
great deal of personal supervision is required 
to make it a success. 

107 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

If the number of guests is larger than can 
be conveniently accommodated at one table, 
two or three smaller ones may be used. One 
table is rather prettier, however, as it ad- 
mits of concentrating, instead of scattering, 
the decoration. The cloth should be white, 
or something very handsome in colors. A 
centre-piece of velvet or plush or satin, or of 
linen, embroidered, painted, done in cut- 
work or drawn-work, or something else 
equally elegant in material or ornament, 
should be laid down the middle of the table. 
An exquisite centre-piece may be made of 
bolting -cloth, hand -painted and trimmed 
with lace. On this a mirror is often placed, 
bearing the bowl, basket, or jar of flowers. 

Tall candelabra should hold enough can- 
dles to light the room well, and each candle 
should have its tiny paper or silk shade and 
its glass hobeche. If the gas must be used, it 
should be shaded. The dishes containing hors 
cVceitvres — bonbons, glace fruits, etc. — must 
be many, and their contents of the choicest. 

The arrangement of silver, glass, and china 
may be the same as at a small luncheon, ex- 
108 



A LARGE LUNCHEON 

cept that the amount of silver at each place 
must be increased. The bread sticks on 
every napkin must be tied with a narrow 
ribbon matching the broad one that ties the 
ho liquet de corsage provided for the guest. 
Cards bearing the names of the guests indi- 
cate their seats, and may be either hand- 
painted or plain. Favors are often given, 
and should be placed on the table before the 
luncheon is announced. 

Oyster or Little Neck clams compose the 
first course, and are followed by bouillon. 
Fish succeeds this; then comes one entree, 
and sometimes two. Next is a dish of meat, 
with one or more vegetables, and then the 
Roman punch appears. 

After this, game comes, and then salad. 
The table then being cleared, pastry in some 
form, or Charlottes or jellies are brought in, 
and this course in turn is succeeded by ices 
in pretty or fanciful shapes. An attractive 
caprice is that of ices or cream in the form 
of fruits heaped up in and rolling out of a 
basket of clear ice or spun sugar placed on a 
salver. Ices in small goblets or tumblers of 

109 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

clear ice are often served. The fruit comes 
next, and is accompanied by bonbons, glace 
fruits, marrons y and the like. Last are coffee 
and chocolate. 

Of the following menus, either one is suit- 
able for a large luncheon : 

1. 

Raw Oysters. 

Chicken Bouillon. 

Creamed Lobster. Crackers or Bread and Butter. 

Scalloped Chicken. 

Sweetbread P&tes. Green Pease. 

Maraschino Punch. 

Fillet of Beef, Mushroom Sauce. 

French Fried Potatoes. 

Broiled Squabs on Toast. Water-cress. 

Chicken Salad. 

Strawberries in Wine Jelly, with Whipped Cream. 

Nesselrode Pudding. Biscuit. Fancy Cakes. 

Fruit. Bonbons. 

Coffee. Chocolate. 

110 



A LAEGE LUNCHEON 



Clams on Ice. 

Bouillon. 

Halibut Steaks. Cream Sauce. Parisian Potatoes. 

Ham Pates. Green Pease. 

Stuffed Crabs. 

Chicken Cutlets. 

Broiled Fillet of Beef, au Maitre d'Hotel. Asparagus. 

Roman Punch. 

Quail on Toast. Celery Salad. 

Fried Mushrooms on Toast, with Sauce a l'Espagnol. 

Frozen Pudding. Whipped Cream. 

Ices. 

Fruit. 

Coffee. Chocolate. 

With either of these menus wine may be 
served, although there is not the variety of 
these at a ladies' luncheon that there is at a 
dinner. Claret may be served with the fish 
or first entree, and drunk during the luncheon, 
or brought in with the game, or with the 
heaviest meat course. In some cases no 
claret is served, and the only wine is the 
small glass of sherry offered late in the meal, 
ill 



F 



A STANDING LUNCH. 

OR a long time there was a felt need for 
some form of entertainment that would 
be more general in its character than a dinner 
or a lunch, less of a full-dress affair than an 
evening party, and more elaborate than the 
ordinary kettle-drum or afternoon tea. This 
want was finally supplied by the introduction 
of the standing lunch, which is in reality lit- 
tle more than a regular reception, such as 
usually takes place in the evening, held in 
the afternoon. To this both ladies and gen- 
tlemen are invited. 

The hours for which the guests are asked 
— usually from four to six or seven— preclude 
the necessity of full dress. The men usually 
wear morning coats, while the women are 
arrayed in handsome calling costumes, and 
do not remove their bonnets. It may be re- 
marked, en passant, that the wearing of the 

112 



A STANDING LUNCH 

hat or bonnet is, or should be, a rule without 
exception at a ladies' lunch. Only the host- 
ess or those of the company who are guests 
in the house appear with their heads un- 
covered. The others wear handsome dressy 
bonnets, such as they would assume for the 
theatre in the evening or for an afternoon 
reception. 

The hostess who desires to entertain her 
friends or to discharge her social obligations 
by a standing lunch must issue her invitations 
some days in advance of the date fixed. They 
should be formal, and are usually engraved, 
although they may be written. The former 
method is preferable. . 

At a lunch of this kind, as the name im- 
plies, the guests are not to be seated at 
one large table, nor even at a number of 
small ones. The large dining-room table 
and sideboard are set out with a repast con- 
sisting of some hot and some cold dishes. 
The guests move about the drawing-room, 
seating themselves if they have the chance, 
as they would at an evening reception, and 
are served with plates containing the succes- 
8 113 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

sive courses, either by waiters or by their 
escorts. Not only is there less formality in 
the conduct of the guests than would be 
observed at an ordinary luncheon, but there 
is also less precision in the serving of the 
refreshments. 

For such a lunch the hostess does well 
when she provides a number of camp-chairs 
in addition to the seats she already has in 
her rooms. It is always more agreeable to 
eat when one is seated than when standing 
and endeavoring to handle a full plate and a 
brimming coffee-cup at the same time. Such 
an effort is severe even for a man, who has 
been obliged to practise it all his life, but it 
is doubly distressing. to a woman, who is in 
constant terror lest an unguarded movement 
on her own or her neighbor's part should 
cause an upset, and a spill that might fatal- 
ly damage at least one gown, and possibly 
more. 

In preparing for a standing lunch, or for 

any other large reception, it is prudent for 

the hostess to clear her parlors of such break 

ables as statues, tall vases, piano lamps, etc., 

114 



A STANDING LUNCH 

that rest upon pedestals or easily overturned 
stands. These, if not taken from the room, 
should be moved into corners where they 
will be comparatively safe from injury ; 
while the largest pieces of furniture, such 
as sofas or lounges and big easy-chairs, 
should be wheeled back near the wall, so 
as not to interfere with the movements 
of people through the rooms. Light chairs 
should stand about here and there, and 
the camp-chairs should be stacked in some 
convenient closet or in the corner of the 
hall, whence they can be produced at a 
moment's notice when the refreshments are 
served. 

The floral decorations may be either simple 
or ornate, according to the wishes of the 
hostess. Mantels banked with flowers, 
chandeliers and brackets draped with smilax, 
a profusion of roses, and baskets of choice 
cut flowers are very beautiful, but the rooms 
can be rendered attractive by less costly 
means. If there is to be a large number of 
guests, the flowers will be unnoticed by 
many of them unless judgment be shown in 
115 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

the disposition of vases. These should be 
placed on the mantels, on brackets, on the 
top of the piano, or in some other place 
where they will be seen readily, rather 
than on low tables, where they are not 
only hidden, but are in imminent danger 
of being knocked over. Palms or ferns in 
pots and other growing plants decorate 
pleasingly, and can be engaged for the even- 
ing from a florist, if the mistress of the house 
neither owns them nor feels inclined to buy 
them. 

In preparing the dining-room table it 
should be drawn out to a size that will per- 
mit of its holding without undue crowding 
the dishes and plates that will be required 
for the lunch. If the refreshments are too 
numerous to be accommodated here, the 
side-board should be cleared for their re- 
ception, and even one or two side-tables 
brought in. The table should be spread 
with a long white cloth. A bowl or jar or 
pot of flowers may be in the centre of the 
board. Yery elaborate floral arrangements 
are unnecessary in the dining-room, unless a 
116 



A STANDING LUNCH 

good many of the guests are expected to 
come out here. 

At each end of the table and at intervals 
along the sides spaces should be left for the 
dishes that are to hold the refreshments. 
Between these may be the piles of plates and 
the napkins. These may either be separate 
or arranged together, a napkin being laid on 
each plate and all placed in piles, so that 
they may be easily distributed. Forks and 
spoons should also be close at hand, with the 
necessary utensils for serving the different 
dishes, that there may not be a hurried search 
for a carving knife or fork or a large spoon 
just at the last moment, when its presence 
might have saved delay and confusion. 

The side-table should hold the coffee and 
chocolate cups, the wineglasses, goblets, or 
tumblers for w T ater, etc. Let it be seen, by 
the way, that there is plenty of iced water in 
readiness. Many a guest at a large recep- 
tion has longed for a drink of it and found it 
apparently the hardest thing to get which he 
could have selected. 

Unless the hostess has a remarkably well- 

117 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

trained butler, and one or two other servants 
who understand waiting, she will be wise if 
she engages hired waiters to take charge of 
the serving of the dishes, and has her butler 
and maids confine their services to passing 
plates in the drawing-room. This is pleas- 
anter than having the outside helpers wait- 
ing on the guests, while their skill and prac- 
tice in serving render them most efficient in 
the work of filling plates. 

The first course of a standing lunch is usu- 
ally bouillon, served in cups. When these 
have been removed, a plate is brought to each 
guest containing oysters in some shape, usu- 
ally fricasseed or creamed, and accompanied 
possibly by a lobster croquette or a sweet- 
bread or mushroom pate. The third course 
may comprise chicken croquettes or rissoles, 
accompanied by lettuce or celery salad. 
Both with this and the preceding course tiny 
square or three-cornered sandwiches of thin 
bread and butter, spread with some potted 
meat or fish, with sardines, or with lobster 
mayonnaise, may have been passed. After 
this course come the sweets — ice-creams or 
118 



A STANDING LUNCH 

ices in small shapes, biscuit in paper cases, 
and fancy cakes— followed by coffee or cho- 
colate. Nothing must be served that cannot 
be easily eaten with a fork or spoon. Light 
wines or a bowl of punch are always in 

order. 

119 



THE LUNCH BASKET. 

TO many people the lunch basket and its 
contents are quite as important as any 
regularly set-out meal of the clay — more im- 
portant than such occasional luxuries as cere- 
monious dejeuners a lafourchette and stand- 
ing lunches. 

Among this number are not only the 
school -children who, five days out of the 
week, must carry what the Southern boys 
and girls would term a "snack" with them 
to school, but also the army of men and wo- 
men whose employment takes them to such 
a distance from their homes that it is im- 
practicable for them to return there for the 
midday meal. With these must not be for- 
gotten the band of night workers who, in one 
capacity or another, have part in making the 
morning papers, and who, turning day into 
night, find it as essential to take a midnight 
as others do a midday repast. 
120 



THE LUNCH BASKET 

In a less degree interest is felt in the lunch 
basket by those young people who regard 
the coining of the summer chiefly as the re- 
turn of the picnic season. All these desire 
to know of something appetizing to supply 
their needs, and nearly all agree in condemn- 
ing certain articles as stale and hackneyed, 
asserting that they are tired to death of 
them. Among these are generally ham and 
tongue sandwiches. 

In making suggestions on this subject, the 
first thing to be considered is the basket, and 
to begin with, it should be a basket, and not 
a close tin box or pail that cannot be sweeten- 
ed except by scouring and scalding between 
the times of using. A basket, by permitting 
the passage of air through its interstices, 
prevents the food acquiring a close, musty 
taste ; and even the basket should have fre- 
quent airings and sunnings, and an occasion- 
al plunge into hot salt and water, followed 
by a rinsing in fresh hot water, and a wiping 
and drying in the sun or near the fire. 

Only fresh napkins must be used for wrap- 
ping about the lunch, and if their use proves 
121 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

too severe a strain upon the linen drawer, 
Japanese paper napkins may be substituted, 
or even fresh white tissue-paper, or druggist's 
paper. The daintiness of ribbons to tie the 
different parcels is all very pretty, but it is 
hardly possible for the hurried house-mother 
who has to put up even one lunch a day, 
much less when she has two or three to pre- 
pare. In order to succeed in making them 
even ordinarily attractive, she must take 
thought for these lunches as carefully as she 
does for the other meals of the day, and 
make provision accordingly, not waiting un- 
til the last moment, and then hastily gather- 
ing up whatever odds and ends she can find, 
and hurriedly cramming them all together 
into the basket in a manner that savors un- 
pleasantly of the bestowal of " broken vict- 
uals " and cold bits upon the beggar at the 
kitchen door. 

Not until she gives the matter serious 
thought does the housewife appreciate what a 
variety she can select for the lunch basket of 
her boy or girl, or of her husband. Hot 
foods are out of the question, of course, and 
122 



THE LUNCH BASKET 

even hot drinks, unless a tiny alcohol " pocket 
stove," filled and ready for lighting, and a 
tin or agate-iron cup, accompany the outfit. 
In that case, many a hot cup of cafe cm lait 
or chocolate, of soup or bouillon, may be en- 
joyed by the luncher. 

But even when this cannot be managed, 
cold coffee and tea are not to be despised, 
while cold bouillon is preferred by many to 
the hot beef tea. Or, for a change from this, 
a small flask of milk or of lemonade may be 
carried. In any case the bottle should be a 
stout one, and provided with a good stopper, 
that no break or leakage may cause the ruin 
of the rest of the refection. 

China makes the lunch basket too heavy, 
and takes up too much room. If a plate is 
required, let it be one of the little wooden 
butter plates that can be thrown away after 
using. It is often possible to procure a glass 
from which to drink, but even when it is not, 
a flat glass or a collapsing cup may easily be 
carried in the pocket ; or an ordinary flask, 
having a cup fitted to the bottom, may be 
purchased and kept for service in the lunch 
123 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

basket. A tiny cruet for salt and another 
for pepper should also be part of the outfit. 

Often it does not seem to occur to the house- 
keeper that it is quite practicable to carry a 
cup custard, a baked apple or pear, a tiny 
mould of jelly or blanc-mange, as well as un- 
cooked fruit. While the latter is always 
wholesome and generally popular, there are 
times when one wants something else. To 
paraphrase Miss Woolson's words in " For the 
Major," " A large cold apple on a winter day 
is not calculated to arouse enthusiasm." 

Other dainties are easily prepared. Every 
one who has read " Little Women" — and who 
has not read it ? — will remember Meg and Jo 
March trudging off to their work on frosty 
mornings, each carrying the turnover that 
was to compose her lunch, and gaining com- 
fort for the cold fingers from its warmth. 

A tiny pie baked in a saucer, a small tart, 
a diminutive rice or tapioca pudding in a 
patty-pan, are not hard to make, and are a 
welcome variety at the midday " snack." 

While it might possibly be an expensive 
item to provide potted meat for sandwiches 

124 



THE LUNCH BASKET 

for every day in the week, there are often 
odds and ends that, with a little "doctor- 
ing," may be made into excellent substitutes. 
The meat on the drumstick left from the 
roast or stewed chicken of last night may be 
chopped fine, moistened with a little gravy 
or melted butter, seasoned, and spread on 
thin slices of buttered bread. The bit of 
steak that clung to the bone may be minced, 
and have stirred into it a little Worcester- 
shire sauce and a suspicion of made mustard ; 
while the slice of cold lamb or veal, also 
minced, may be flavored with curry-powder 
and softened with melted butter to make 
filling for sandwiches. 

The one or two cold sausages left in the 
pantry will make an appetizing sandwich 
when crushed fine with the back of a spoon, 
and laid between the two sides of a buttered 
roll or biscuit ; while the last spoonful of lob- 
ster or chicken salad scraped from the bot- 
tom of the dish may be spread on buttered 
bread for yet another kind of sandwich. 

White, Graham, brown, or whole -wheat 
bread may be used in turn, with an occasional 

125 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

roll or biscuit to still further vary monotony. 
Egg sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, sweet- 
bread sandwiches, sardine sandwiches, minced 
ham, tongue, ham and chicken, chicken and 
bacon sandwiches — their name is legion. 

But some one may object, one does not 
want all sandwiches. True enough, but they 
are the piece de resistance of the lunch. They 
may be supplemented, however, by a piece of 
cold fowl, by, once in a while, a broiled bird, 
by a few pickled oysters, by deviled and 
plain hard-boiled eggs, by salads without 
number, by olives, cheese, and pickles. And 
for desserts are there not the little dishes al- 
ready suggested, to say nothing of cake, cook- 
ies, ginger-snaps, apples, oranges, mandarins, 
bananas, pears, grapes, and other fruits ? For 
school children there are such simple dainties 
as bread or rolls spread with jam, jelly, 
marmalade, or apple-sauce. And are not 
crackers and cheese always at hand, and al- 
most always popular \ 

While all this may at first seem to impose 
additional labor upon the housekeeper, she 
will soon find, when the habit is once estab- 
126 



THE LUNCH BASKET 

lished of providing regularly for the lunch, 
that she feels it no more of a burden than 
she does to cater for the other meals of the 
day. Let her keep on the alert for new' fan- 
cies, and they will come to her more rapidly 
than she can utilize them. 
127 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SPRING 

npHESE menus for simple home lunches, 
-L given as were those for breakfasts — ten 
for each season— are not designed to serve as 
exact guides, but merely as suggestions to 
the housekeeper. They may easily be im- 
proved upon or altered. To some they will 
doubtless appear much too simple, while oth- 
ers may condemn them as being too elab- 
orate. Certain selected recipes will accom- 
pany them. 

1. 

Baked Cheese Omelet. Toasted Crackers. 

Strawberry Jam. 

Cocoa. 

Baked Cheese Omelet. — Two eggs, two cups 
milk, one small cup grated cheese, one small 
cup fine bread-crumbs, salt and Cayenne pep- 
per to taste, one tablespoonful melted but- 
ter. Soak the crumbs in the milk, in which 
128 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOE SPRING 

you have dissolved a tiny pinch of soda ; beat 
the eggs light, and add to the bread and 
milk; stir in the butter, the seasoning, and, 
last of all, the cheese. Bake in a well-greased 
pudding-dish, and eat at once, before it falls. 
Toasted Crackers. — Split and toast Boston 
crackers. Butter them well on the inside, 
lay the two halves together, and serve them 
in a hot covered dish. They are not nearly 
so good when they are cold. 

2. 

Ham Fritters. Baked Bananas. 

Bread-and-Bntter. 

Ginger Snaps. 

Tea. 

Ham Fritters. — Two cups minced cold 
ham, one egg, half-pint good stock, salt- 
spoonful dry mustard, teaspoonf ul Worcester- 
shire sauce, tiny bit of scalded onion (chop- 
ped), half- teaspoonf ul minced parsley, one 
tablespoonful butter, one teaspoonful flour. 
Heat the stock to boiling, and thicken it with 
the butter and flour rubbed together; stir 
into it the ham, seasoned with the mustard, 
onion, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley ; 
9 1^0 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

add the beaten egg. Pour the mixture on 
a fiat plate to cool. When cold and firm, 
make into flattened balls about the size 
of a small plum ; drop each into a batter 
made of a cup of flour, two teaspoonfuls of 
melted butter, a small cup of warm water, 
the beaten white of an egg, and a little salt. 
Lay each fritter out of the batter into boil- 
ing fat. They will puff up at once, and 
should be of a delicate brown. 

Baked Bananas. — Select large ripe bana- 
nas, and bake them in the oven as you would 
potatoes. "When the skin begins to split at 
the seams they are done. Take them out, 
and serve one to each person, as a vegetable. 
They should be peeled, and eaten with but- 
ter and a little salt. 

Br ead-and- Butter. — Butter bread a day 
old on the loaf, and cut into thin slices. 
Double, the buttered side inward. 

Ginger Snaps. — Two eggs, two cups sugar, 
one cup butter, two teaspoonfuls ginger, one 
teaspoonful cinnamon, flour to make a stiff 
dough. Roll into a thin sheet, cut into 
rounds, and sprinkle with granulated sugar 
130 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SPRING 

before baking. Watch closely or they will 
burn. 

3. 

A Scrap Hash. Rice Bread. 

Oraiiges. 

A Scrap Rash.-— Two cups cold beef (roast, 
boiled, corned, or fresh), one or two cold 
sausages, two or three slices cold bacon, one 
cup cold potato, four olives, tablespoonful 
Worcestershire sauce, a little cold stewed to- 
mato (if you have it), half an onion minced 
fine, one cup gravy or soup stock, or one cup 
boiling water and a tablespoonful of butter. 
Heat the gravy or stock to boiling in a fry- 
ing-pan ; stir into it the other ingredients 
chopped fine ; simmer for fifteen minutes, 
stirring constantly. You can either serve 
the hash soft or let it brown on the bottom. 
Olla-podrida though it seems, it will be savo- 
ry, and will be relished hy nearly every one. 

Rice Bread. — Two cups milk, two cups 
boiled rice, one cup white corn -meal, three 
eggs w T ell beaten, two tablespoonfuls butter, 
teaspoonful salt. Bake in a hot oven, in 
rather shallow pans. 

131 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

4. 

Liver Toast. Rusk. Radishes. 

Stewed Pie-plant. 

Light Cakes. 

Liver Toast. — One cupful cold boiled or 
stewed liver, half cupful brown gravy of any 
sort, enough mustard, salt, pepper, and Wor- 
cestershire sauce to season the liver highly, 
several squares of buttered toast. Eub the 
liver smooth with the back of a spoon, add 
the seasoning, heat to boiling with the gravy, 
and heap or spread upon the toast. Set 
in the oven two minutes before sending to 
table. 

Rusk. — Two cups milk, two eggs, two and 
a half cups flour, half cup butter, one cup 
sugar, half a yeast -cake dissolved in warm 
water. Set a sponge made of the milk, the 
yeast, and part of the flour — enough to make 
a good batter. Let this rise all night. In 
the morning work in the beaten eggs, the 
sugar, butter, and the rest of the flour. 
Knead well, and make into balls with the 
hands. Set these together in the pan, let 
them rise until light, and bake in a steady 

133 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SPRING 

'oven. Just before taking them out brush 
the tops with molasses and water. 

5. 

Panned Oysters. Lunch Biscuit. 

Stewed Prunes. 
Ginger Snaps. 

Panned Oysters. — Cut small rounds of toast 
to fit the bottom of deep, straight-sided patty- 
pans. Prettier than these are the little " nap- 
pies," or china fire -proof dishes, that come 
for this purpose. Moisten each piece of toast 
with a spoonful of oyster liquor, lay on it 
as many oysters as the pan will easily hold, 
sprinkle with pepper and salt, lay a small 
piece of butter on top, and set in the oven 
for a few minutes until the oysters begin to 
crimp. Serve in the pans. 

Lunch Biscuit. — Two cups flour, half cup 
milk, one egg, one tablespoonful butter, one 
tablespoonf ul baking - powder, saltspoonf ul 
salt. Chop the shortening into the salted 
flour, pour in the beaten egg and milk, mak- 
ing a soft dough, roll out, cut into rounds, and 
bake. 

133 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEKVE IT 

6. 

Deviled Mutton. Hashed Potatoes. 

Hot Loaf Bread. 

Orange Marmalade. 

Deviled Mutton. — Rub slices of rare mut- 
ton with a mixture made as follows: One 
teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce, one tea- 
spoonful vinegar, one teaspoonful made mus- 
tard, tablespoonful melted butter. Let the 
meat lie in this for an hour. Then dip each 
slice in a frying batter made as directed in 
recipe for "ham fritters," and fry in deep 
fat. Or the deviled meat may simply be 
boiled over a clear fire. In either case serve 
very hot. 

Hot Loaf Bread. — Set a loaf of French 
bread in the steamer for fifteen minutes, then 
in a hot oven for five minutes. Serve wrapped 
in a napkin, and cut on the table. 

i. 

Caviare Toast. Cold Meat. 

Baked Potatoes. 

Strawberries, unhulled. 

Caviare Toast. — Buy the Eussian caviare, 
which comes in small tin cans. Cut your 
134 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SPEING 

bread into neat squares or rounds, removing 
the crusts ; toast and butter it, spread it with 
the caviare, and set it in the oven five min- 
utes before serving. 

8. 

Scalloped Cod. Oatmeal Gems. 

Boiled Potatoes. 

Guava Jelly and Crackers. 

Scalloped Cod. — Two cupfuls picked cod- 
fish, one cupful drawn butter (with an egg 
beaten in it), one teaspoonful minced sour 
pickle, one tablespoonful Worcestershire 
sauce, fine bread-crumbs. Have the drawn 
butter hot, stir the fish into it, add the 
pickle and sauce, pour into a buttered bak- 
ing-dish, sprinkle with crumbs, dot with bits 
of butter, and bake. 

Oatmeal Gems. — Two cups of the finest 
oatmeal, two cups milk, two eggs, one table- 
spoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar, one 
saltspoonful salt. 

9. 

Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus. Bread and Butter. 

Cheese Biscuit. 

Lettuce Salad. 

135 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus. — Six eggs, 
one tablespoonful butter, two tablespoonfuls 
milk, salt and pepper to taste, green tips of 
a bunch of asparagus boiled tender. Put the 
butter and the milk into a frying-pan, break 
the eggs into this, and stir until they begin 
to thicken ; put in the asparagus tops, season, 
and remove to a hot dish. 

Cheese Biscuit. — One cup grated cheese, 
one cup flour, one egg, pinch of salt, dash of 
Cayenne. Mix all together, roll into a sheet, 
cut into rounds, and bake to a light brown. 

10. 

Lobster Croquettes. Graham Bread. 

Saratoga Potatoes. 

Strawberries and Cream. 

Lobster Croquettes. — Meat of one large boiled 
lobster, half pint white sauce, two eggs, juice 
of a lemon, salt and Cayenne to taste. Mince 
the meat fine, stir it into the Avhite sauce, add 
the eggs well beaten, and, last, the lemon juice. 
Turn out on a plate to cool. When perfect- 
ly cold, form into small croquettes with the 
hands, roll in beaten egg, then in fine cracker 
crumbs, and fry in deep fat. 
136 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER 

TN hot weather a comfortable room is es- 
-*- sential to the enjoyment of a meal. The 
salle a manger must be cleared of food, the 
soiled dishes removed, all crumbs brushed 
up, and the flies beaten out the moment 
breakfast is over, if the apartment is to be 
pleasant at noon. If blinds and doors are 
kept closed, the room may be deliciously 
cool and fresh by lunch-time. 

With such surroundings, good digestion is 
much more prone to wait on appetite than 
in a stuffy, fly -infested room, where neither 
heat nor light is excluded. Among the pleas- 
antest recollections of at least one woman 
are those connected with the lunches she 
has eaten in midsummer in a certain city 
dining-room, where the subdued light, the 
daintily arranged table, the carefully pre- 
pared and seasonable food, and the noiseless 
137 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 



serving inclined one to feel that there were 
many worse fates than being obliged to spend 
the summer in town. 

1. 

Anchovy Toast. Chicken Salad. 

Bread-and-Butter. 

Berries and Cream. 

Iced Tea. 

Anchovy Toast. — Spread crustless slices of 
toast first with butter, then with anchovy 
paste. Set in the oven five minutes, and 
send to table. 

Chicken Salad. — Cut into small neat pieces 
half the contents of a can of boned chicken 
or part of a cold boiled or roast chicken. 
Mix this with half as much celery, if you can 
get it ; if not, arrange it in the midst of crisp 
lettuce leaves. Stir into it a French dressing 
of two tablespoonf uls of oil, as much vinegar, 
and a little pepper and salt, and pour over it 
a mayonnaise dressing. 

Mayonnaise Dressing. — Into a bowl set in 
an outer vessel of cold or iced water place 
the yolk of an egg. Be careful that no ves- 
tige of the white gets in. Begin whipping 
138 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER 

in salad oil drop by drop with a Dover egg- 
beater, beating for nearly a minute after 
each addition. After ten minutes, add two 
or three drops at a time, and when the dress- 
ing once begins to thicken, the quantity can 
be increased even more. If too thick, add a 
little vinegar to thin it. A pint of oil can 
be used to every egg. When done, season 
with salt and white pepper. Just before 
serving, stir into it the whipped white of an 
egg. The bowl, egg-beater, and materials 
must all be very cold, and the dressing when 
made must be kept on ice until used. 

2. 

Eggs d la Ore me. 

Raw Tomatoes. Rice Crumpets. 

Sliced Peaches. 

Eggs a la Orhne. — Eight eggs boiled hard, 
one cup white sauce, two tablespoonf uls fine 
crumbs, tablespoonful butter. Slice six of 
the eggs, and put them in a pudding -dish 
with the white sauce. Rub the yolks of the 
other two eggs through a sieve, mix them 
with the bread-crumbs, and sprinkle them 
over the top of the dish. Put bits of butter 
139 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

here and there, garnish the dish around the 
sides with points of buttered toast and the 
extra whites of the eggs cut in rings, and set 
the dish in the oven until browned on top. 

Bice Crumpets. — One cup rice, two cups 
flour, one cup milk, one tablespoonful butter, 
one tablespoonful sugar ; quarter of a yeast- 
cake, dissolved in warm water; pinch of salt. 
Set to rise early in the morning. "When 
light, fill muffin-pans ; let them stand fifteen 
minutes, and bake. 

3. 

Deviled Chicken. 

French Rolls. Broiled Tomatoes. 

Berries. 

Deviled Chicken. — Select a young and ten- 
der chicken, score it with a knife, rub it well 
with the sauce described in the last chapter 
(see "Deviled Mutton"), and broil over a 
clear fire. 

Broiled Tomatoes. — Slice, but do not peel, 
fresh tomatoes. Broil them on a toaster 
over the fire ; remove to a hot dish ; put a 
little butter, pepper, and salt on each one, 
and let them stand a minute before serving. 
140 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER 



• 4. 

Poached Eggs, with Anchovy Toast. 

Sardines. 

Boston Brown-Bread. Water-cress. 

Nutmeg Melons. 

Poached Eggs, with Anchovy Toast. — Pre- 
pare slices of anchovy toast as already de- 
scribed, and lay on each slice a poached egg. 
Pour over all a cup of drawn butter in which 
has been stirred a teaspoonful of chopped 
parsley. 

Boston Brown-Bread. — Put a loaf of Bos- 
ton brown-bread into the inner vessel of a 
double boiler, and boiling water in the outer 
vessel, and steam the bread until it is hot 
through. 

5. 

Game Pate. Cold Tongue, sliced. 

Bread-and-Butter. Radishes. 

Hot Crackers. 

Cream Cheese. 

Game Pate. — Several varieties of game 
2?dtes are put up by French and American 
companies, and all are admirable for summer 
lunches or teas. 

141 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

6. 

Fried Pickerel. New Potatoes. 

Brown Bread. 

Celery and Radish Salad. 

Fried Pickerel. — These fish are very de- 
licious when perfectly fresh. Each fish 
should be rolled in flour and fried quickly in 
hot dripping. Take them out of the pan as 
soon as done. 

Celery and Radish Salad. — Cut the celery 
into inch lengths, and toss it up with a 
French dressing. Heap it in a bowl, and 
arrange half -peeled radishes around the 
mound. Pour over all a mayonnaise dress- 
ing prepared according to the directions al- 
ready given. The combination of the cool 
celery and the pungent radishes will be 
found very pleasing. 

7. 

Jellied Tongue. Fried Bananas. 

Asparagus Biscuit. 

Peaches and Cream. 

Jellied Tongue. — One cup of the liquor in 
which the tongue was cooked, two cups good 
142 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOE SUMMER 

stock or gravy of any meat except mutton, 
half-box of gelatine, one gill cold water, one 
cup boiling water, two tablespoonfuls vine- 
gar, one glass sherry, a cold boiled tongue, 
sliced. Soak the gelatine in the cold water 
for two hours. Pour over it the boiling 
water, the stock or gravy, and the tongue 
liquor, heated. Unless the gravy is highly 
seasoned, it is a good plan to boil a bay leaf, 
a sprig of parsley, a slice of onion, and a few 
sweet herbs in a cup of water, and then to 
strain this, and pour it over the gelatine in- 
stead of using the plain boiling water. Fla- 
vor the jelly with the vinegar, the sherry, 
pepper, and salt, if the last is needed. Strain 
all through a cloth. When the jelly begins 
to harden, pour a little into a brick-shaped 
mould or tin pan with straight sides, first 
wetting the mould with cold water. Ar- 
range slices of tongue on this. Pour in more 
jelly, then place another layer of tongue, and 
continue thus until the supply of both is ex- 
hausted, making jelly the last layer. Set the 
mould on ice until the jelly is hard ; turn it 
out and slice on the table. This sounds like 
143 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

a fussy dish, but it is less trouble than ap- 
pears at first. 

Asparacjxis Biscuit. — Scoop out the inside 
of stale biscuit, leaving side walls and the 
foundation of crust. Set these hollow shells 
in the oven until dried. Boil asparagus 
tender in salted water, cut off the. tops, 
mince and season them, and stir them into a 
cupful of drawn butter. Fill the hot shells 
with the mixture, and send to table. 

8. 

Baked Chicken Omelet. Com Croquettes. 

Brown Bread. 

Strawberry Short-Cake. 

Iced Coffee. 

Baked Chicken Omelet. — Into one cupful 
of white sauce, made as previously directed, 
stir a cupful of chicken, minced fine and sea- 
soned to taste. Beat two eggs light, yolks 
and white separately. Add the yolks to the 
chicken mixture ; last, stir in the whites 
lightly, pour into a buttered pudding dish, 
and bake in a quick oven. 

Corn Croquettes. — To two cupfuls of green 
corn, chopped, add one well-beaten egg, a 
144 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER 

teaspoonful of butter, one of sugar, salt to 
taste, and just enough flour to hold the in- 
gredients together. Form into croquettes 
with floured hands, and fry in deep fat. 

9. 

Pickled Lambs' Tongues. Egg Salad. 

Boiled Corn-Bread. 

Loppered Milk. 

Egg Salad. — Slice hard-boiled eggs, ar- 
range them upon crisp lettuce leaves, and 
pour over all a mayonnaise dressing. 

Boiled Cot n- Bread.— Two cups sour milk, 
one cup warm water, one tablespoonful lard, 
one tablespoonful molasses, one teaspoonful 
soda, one cup flour, two cups corn -meal. 
Mix the ingredients, beating well ; pour into 
a Boston brown-bread mould with a tight 
top ; set in a pot of water ; boil two hours, 
and turn out. 

10. 

Welsh Rabbit, Cold Corned Ham. 

Sliced Cucumbers. 

Rolls. 

Hot Oatmeal Crackers. Cream Cheese. 

Welsh Babbit. — One egg, half-cup milk, 
10 ^45 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

one cup grated cheese ; salt, Cayenne, and 
made mustard to taste ; squares of stale 
bread toasted and buttered. Heat the milk 
in a double boiler, melt the grated cheese in 
this, season, add the egg, and pour the mixt- 
ure over the toast. If the rabbit seems too 
thin, add more cheese or a few fine bread- 
crumbs. 

146 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR AUTUMN 
1. 

Sweetbread Pates. Raised Corn-meal Muffins. 

Fried Potatoes. 

Jelly Toast. 

Sweetbread Pates. — Scald and blanch a 
pair of sweetbreads ; remove bits of skin and 
gristle ; chop rather coarsely, and stir into a 
cupful of white sauce ; season to taste. Have 
ready pastry shells made hot in the oven, and 
fill them with the sweetbreads. Send very 
hot to table. A few mushrooms chopped 
with the sweetbreads are a pleasant addition. 

liaised Com- meal Muffins. — Two cups 
milk, two cups corn-meal, one tablespoonful 
white sugar, one tablespoonful lard, quarter 
yeast-cake. Heat the milk to boiling, and 
pour it upon the meal. While this is warm, 
beat in all the other ingredients except the 
lard. Let it rise six hours. Add the lard. 
147 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

Fill muffin* tins, and let the batter rise 
twenty minutes before baking. 

Jelly Toast. — Cut stale bread into neat 
rounds or squares ; fry each slice in boiling 
deep fat ; spread it thickly with some fruit 
jell\ r , and serve very hot. 

2. 

Deviled Ham. Sliced Potatoes. 

Rye Biscuit. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Deviled Ham. — Cut cold boiled corned or 
smoked ham into rather thick slices, rub well 
with a sauce made as described on page 134 
for " Deviled Mutton," and broil the ham 
over a clear fire. 

Sliced Potatoes. — Cut six boiled potatoes 
into neat slices, warm them in a steamer, 
transfer to a dish, and put on them a table- 
spoonful of butter and a teaspoon ful of 
chopped parsley. Let them stand five min- 
utes before serving. 

Bye Biscuit. — Two cups rye flour, one cup 

white flour, one and a half cups milk, one 

tablespoonful sugar, one tablespoonf ul lard. 

one tablespoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls 

148 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR AUTUMN 

baking-powder, saltspoonful salt. Bub the 
shortening into the flour after sifting the 
salt and baking-powder with it ; add the 
sugar and the milk ; roll the dough out 
quickly, and bake the biscuit in a brisk 
oven. 

3. 

Bouillon. 

Cold Chicken Pie. Potato Salad. 

Cold Bread. 

Gingerbread. Cocoa. 

Cold Chicken Pie. — Stew a grown chicken 
until tender, putting it on in cold water, and 
cooking very slowly ; arrange the pieces in 
a deep pudding dish, laying in with them two 
hard-boiled eggs cut into slices ; pour over 
all a cupful of the gravy, which should be 
well seasoned ; cover the pie with a pastry 
crust, and bake in a moderate oven. Add 
to two cups of the remaining gravy a quarter- 
box of gelatine soaked in a little cold water, 
a small glassful of sherry, and a tablespoon- 
ful of vinegar; when the pie is done, pour 
this gravy into it through an opening which 
should have been left in the top. Make this 
149 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

pie the clay before it is to be eaten. It is an 
excellent dish for Sunday lunch or tea. 

Potato Salad. — Slice cold boiled potatoes ; 
with three cups of these mix one sliced beet, 
one onion braised, and three or four stalks of 
celery ; pour over them four tablespoonfuls 
of salad oil and three of vinegar, with pep- 
per and salt to taste. Let all stand in a cold 
place at least an hour before serving. 

Gingerbread. — Two cups milk, half -cup 
sugar, half -cup molasses, one teaspoonful 
ground ginger, one teaspoonful cinnamon, 
one tablespoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder; flour enough to make a 
good batter. Beat hard, and bake in a 
steady oven. 

4. 

Apples and Bacon. Brown Bread Toast. 

Canned Peach Short- Cake. 

Brown-Bread Toast. — Cut stale Boston 
brown-bread into slices, and toast, taking 
care not to scorch it. Butter rather liber- 
ally, and send hot to table. 

Canned Peach Short- Cake. — Make a short- 
cake according to previous directions ; cover 
150 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR AUTUMN 

canned peaches with sugar, and stew them 
gently for half an hour in the syrup thus 
made ; lay the sliced peaches between the 
layers of short-cake, and pour the syrup over 
each piece after it is split and buttered. 

5. 

Broiled Blue-Fish. Baked Potatoes. 

Cold Bread. 

Corn-meal Griddle-Cakes. 

Maple Syrup. 

Corn-meal Griddle- Calces. — Two cups corn- 
meal, one cup flour, one cup boiling water, 
one tablespoonful lard, one tablespoonful 
molasses, two cups sour milk, one teaspoon- 
ful soda, saltspoonful salt. Scald the corn- 
meal ; add the shortening, the milk and soda, 
the molasses, and the salted flour. Beat 
hard. 

6. 

Meat Loaf. Baked Tomatoes. 

Fried Bread. 

Hot Cake. 

Meat Loaf. — Two pounds raw or under- 
done beef or veal, minced fine; quarter- 
pound ham, also minced ; two eggs; half -cup 
151 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

fine bread-crumbs ; one tablespoonf ul melted 
butter; pepper, salt, chopped onion, and 
herbs for seasoning to taste. Work all the 
ingredients well together, and press closely 
into a brick-shaped tin. Cover this, set it in 
a pan of boiling water, and bake an hour and 
a half, taking care that the boiling water 
does not cook away. Turn out and slice 
when cold. 

Fried Bread. — Beat one egg into a cup of 
milk ; soak in this slices of stale bread from 
which the crust has been trimmed. Cook on 
a griddle, as you would cakes. 

Hot Cake. — One cup buttermilk, two eggs, 
three tablespoonfuls butter, one and a half 
cups sugar, half teaspoonf ul soda, flour for a 
good batter (about tw T o heaping cupfuls). 
Bake in a loaf, and eat warm. 

7. 

Broiled Smelts. Hashed Potatoes. 

Raised Muffins. 

Cerealine Fritters. 

liaised Muffins. — Two eggs, two cups 
milk, one tablespoonful butter, one table- 
spoonful sugar, half yeast-cake, saltspoonful 
102 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOE AUTUMN 

salt. Make a sponge in the early morning, 
omitting the eggs ; at lunch-time add these, 
well beaten, and bake the muffins in a quick 
oven. 

Cerealine Fritters. — One and a half cups 
cerealine, two cups milk, saltspoonful salt. 
Cook the cerealine in the milk, beat it up 
light, and set it aside to cool in a shallow 
pan ; cut it into squares or rounds when cold, 
and fry in deep fat ; sprinkle with powdered 
sugar, and put a spoonful of jelly on top of 
each just before sending to table. 

8. 

. Stewed Kidneys. Potatoes au Gratia. 

Plain Muffins. 
Sliced Oranges. 

Steived Kidneys. — Soak two kidneys in salt 
and water half an hour ; take out the core, 
and cut the remainder into small pieces. 
Brown a tablespoonful of butter and one of 
flour together with a quarter of an onion 
sliced ; lay the pieces of kidney in this, and 
let them cook five minutes. Add a cup of 
good gravy ; or, if this is lacking, half a cup 
of boiling water. Let the kidneys simmer 
153 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

in this ten minutes ; take out, and serve on 
slices of toast, pouring the gravy over and 
around them. 

Potatoes au Gratin. — Two cupfuls of raw 
potatoes cut into dice, half -cup fine bread- 
crumbs, two tablespoonfuls butter. Let the 
potato dice lie in cold water several hours, 
drain them, season with salt and pepper, and 
put them in a well-greased pan ; dot them 
thickly with bits of butter, sprinkle them 
with the crumbs, and add more butter. 
Bake, covered, for half an hour ; uncover, and 
brown. 

Plain Muffins. — One egg, two cups milk, 
one tablespoonful lard, saltspoonful salt, half 
yeast-cake, flour for batter. Set them early 
in the morning, and let them rise until noon. 

9. 

Toasted Bacon. Poached Eggs. 

Buttered Toast. 

Quick Crullers. Cream Cheese. 

Quick Crullers. — One and a half cups sug- 
ar, one cup butter, four eggs, cinnamon and 
nutmeg to taste, flour for a stiff dough ; roll 
154 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOE AUTUMN 

out, and cut into fancy shapes, and fry in 
deep fat. 

10. 

Creamed Lobster. Thin Bread-and-Butter. 

Salad of Cold Lamb. 
Crackers and Cheese. 

Creamed Lobster.— One cup milk, half -cup 
cream, meat of a large lobster, two table- 
spoonfuls butter, one tablespoonful flour, 
salt and Cayenne pepper to taste, juice of a 
lemon. Heat the milk to boiling, and thick- 
en with the flour and butter. Mince the 
lobster with a sharp knife; never chop it. 
Stir it into the milk, and let it become well 
heated; add to it the raw cream, stir up 
once, and take from the fire; season, add 
the lemon juice, and serve in small silver or 
china shells. 

11. 

A Fish "Leftover." Stewed Potatoes. 

Rice Cakes. 

Roast Spanish Chestnuts. 

A Fish "Left Over:'— The remains of any 
cold boiled, broiled, fried, or baked fish ; three 
hard-boiled eggs, if you have only a half-cup- 
ful of fish (two eggs if there is more fish) ; 
155 



WHAT TO EAT I#OW TO SERVE IT 

one cup white sauce. Flake the fish, chop 
the eggs, heat both in the white sauce, season 
to taste, and serve either on toast or with- 
out it. 

Rice Cakes. — One egg, one cup flour, one 
and a half cups cold boiled rice, saltspoonful 
salt, three cups milk. If this amount of milk 
thins the batter too much, add more flour. 

Roast Spanish Chestnuts. — Cut a bit off of 
each, and roast them in the oven. Peel, and 
eat with butter and salt. 
156 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER 

1. 

Curried Oysters. Rice Croquettes. 

Cold Slaw. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Curried Oysters. — Heat to boiling the 
liquor from one quart of oysters ; lay the 
oysters in it, and let them simmer just long 
enough to plump them. Take them out with 
a skimmer, put them where they will keep 
hot, and thicken the liquor by adding to it a 
tablespoonful of butter rubbed smooth with 
two of browned flour. Into this stir a tea- 
spoonful of curry-powder w^et up in a little 
cold Avater. Salt and pepper to taste, squeeze 
in the juice of a lemon, return the oysters to 
the sauce, and serve. 

Bice Croquettes. — Tw t o cups cold boiled 

rice, one well -beaten egg. one teaspoonful 

butter, one teaspoonful sugar, salt to taste. 

Work the butter, egg, salt, and sugar into the 

157 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEKVE IT 

rice, make into croquettes with the floured 
hands, and fry in deep fat. 

Cold Slaw. — Shred half a fine white cab- 
bage, and pour over it a dressing made as 
follows : Four tablespoonf uls vinegar, half- 
cup milk, one tablespoonf ul butter, one table- 
spoonful sugar, one egg, pepper and salt. 
Beat the egg; stir the melted butter, the 
milk, salt, pepper, and sugar into this. Put 
the vinegar boiling hot into it, a little at a 
time. Pour the sauce over the cabbage, and 
let it become ice-cold before serving. 

2. 

Turkey Hash. Fried Potatoes. 

Milk Toast. 

Macaroons. Cocoa. 

Turkey Hash. —Remove the meat from the 
bones of a turkey, and cut it into neat bits ; 
stir two cups of this into two cups of white 
sauce ; season to taste. Make the stuffing of 
the turkey into neat cakes, fry them, and ar- 
range them on the dish around the hash. 

Macaroons. — One and a half cups pow- 
dered sugar, whites of tw^o eggs, six ounces 
almond paste. Beat the whites very stiff ; 
158 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOE WINTER 

acid the sugar and the almond paste, the lat- 
ter chopped fine. Make into balls with the 
fingers, and bake in very well greased pans 
in a moderate oven. Take out when they 
are a delicate brown, but do not remove 
them from the pans until they are perfectly 
cold. These little cakes are so delicious and 
so easily made that it is strange they are not 
more generally manufactured at home. 

3. 

Jellied Chicken. Hominy Croquettes. 

Toasted Muffins. 

Orange Cake. 

Jellied Chicken. — Cut up a chicken as for 
fricassee, and stew until the meat slips from 
the bones. Take out the chicken, and cut it 
into neat pieces when it has become cold. 
Let the gravy simmer half an hour with an 
onion sliced, a small bunch of parsley, a couple 
of stalks of celery, and a bay-leaf. Strain it, 
and return it to the fire with the white and 
freshly broken shell of an egg. Let it boil 
up, and strain it again, this time through a 
cloth. While still hot pour three cups of this 
liquor upon a half-box of gelatine which has 
159 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEKVE IT 

soaked an hour in one cupful of cold water. 
Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, and add 
a glass of pale sherry and a couple of table- 
spoonfuls of vinegar. Pour part of this jelly 
into a wet mould, and when it begins to form 
lay in slices of hard-boiled egg and pieces 
of the chicken. More jelly follows, and more 
chicken, until all are used up. Turn out when 
the jelly is perfectly firm. 

Hominy Croquettes. — Make as directed for 
rice croquettes, using hominy instead of rice. 

Toasted Muffins. — Split and toast English 
muffins, and butter them on the inside. 

Orange Cake. — Two cups sugar, half cup 
butter, four eggs, three cups flour, one cup 
cold water, one large or two small oranges, 
two teaspoonf uls baking-powder. Work the 
butter and sugar together ; add the yolks of 
the eggs, the juice and grated peel of the 
orange, the water, the whites, and the flour 
with the baking-powder. Bake in small 
cakes. If you like, reserve one of the whites 
of the eggs, and make an orange icing by 
beating with this a cup of powdered sugar 
and a little orange juice. 
160 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER 



4. 

Cold Ham. Celery Salad. 

Batter Muffins. 

Baked Apples with Cream. 

Batter Muffins. — Two cups flour, two cups 
milk, two tablespoonfuls butter, three eggs, 
the whites and yolks beaten separately ; one 
heaping teaspoonful baking-powder, salt- 
spoonful salt. Put in the whites last of all, 
and bake the muffins in a quick oven. 

5. 

Baked Sausages. Stuffed Potatoes. 

Toasted Crackers. Cheese. Olives. 

Baked Sausages. — Make small cakes of 
sausage-meat, or prick the sausages, if you 
use those in skins, before putting them into 
the baking-pan. Bake until they are of a 
good brown. Take them out and thicken 
the fat left in the pan with a tablespoonful 
of flour, add a small cup of milk, boil up, and 
pour over the sausages in the dish. 

6. 

Broiled Oysters. Thin Bread-and-Butter. 

Cold Chicken. 
Raised Waffles. 
11 101 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

Raised Waffles. — One egg, two cups flour, 
two cups milk, one tablespoon ful butter, salt- 
spoonful salt, half yeast cake. Set a sponge 
early in the morning, and just before baking 
at noon beat in the butter and egg. 

7. 

Beefsteak. Baked Sweet Potatoes. 

Lunch Cakes. Chocolate. 

Lunch Cakes. — One cup milk, four cups 
flour, two tablespoonfuls butter, half -cup 
sugar, two eggs, two tablespoonfuls currants, 
one teaspoonful baking-powder. Cream the 
butter and sugar, and stir them into the 
beaten eggs and milk. Add the flour and 
baking-powder, and last of all the currants, 
washed, dried, and dredged with flour. Roll 
out the dough, cut into rounds, and bake in a 
moderate oven. Split, butter, and eat while 
hot. 

8. 

Broiled Sardines on Toast. Omelet. 

Nursery Muffins. 

Sugar Cakes. Chocolate. 

Broiled Sardines on Toast. — Broil the sar- 
dines on a fine wire broiler, lay two on each 

162 



FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER 

slice of toast, and squeeze over them a few 
drops of lemon juice. 

Nursery Muffins. — Two cups milk, two 
cups fine bread-crumbs, one cup flour, salt- 
spoonful salt, one egg, one tablespoonful but- 
ter, three teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Beat 
the egg light, stir in the butter, the bread 
soaked in the milk, and the flour and baking- 
powder. Bake in a steady oven, greasing the 
muffin tins well, so that the batter may not 
stick to them. 

Sugar Cakes. — One cup butter, one cup 
sugar, four cups flour, two eggs, one tea- 
spoonfnl vanilla. Cream butter and sugar, 
mix with the beaten eggs, add the flour and 
the flavoring, roll out very thin, and bake in 
a moderate oven, sprinkling the cakes with 
granulated sugar just before baking. 

9. 

Veal Hamburg Steaks. Light Rolls. 

Apple-Sauce. Jumbles. 

Veal Hamhurg Steaks. — One pound lean 

veal, chopped fine ; two teaspoonfuls onion 

juice ; salt and pepper to taste. Mix all well, 

form with the hands into flattened cakes, 

163 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

and broil over a clear fire. Lay on each a 
half -teaspoonf ul of maitre oV hotel butter, or a 
bit of butter the size of a hickory nut, first 
squeezing a few drops of lemon juice on the 
meat. Let them stand covered a minute be- 
fore serving. 

Jumbles. — Half-cup butter, three quarters 
of a cup of sugar, one heaping cup flour, two 
eggs (the yolks only), two tablespoonf uls . 
sherry, extract of rose to taste. Beat the 
yolks, cream the butter and sugar ; mix 
these, and add the flour and the flavoring. 
Make into round balls with the fingers, and 
place them on a well-buttered tin so far 
apart that when they flatten they may not 
run into each other. Stick a raisin, a slip of 
citron, or a blanched almond on top of each. 
Bake in a steady oven to a pale yellow. Do 
not brown. While still warm, loosen them 
from the pan with a sharp knife, as they be- 
come very brittle when cold. 

10. 

Ham and Eggs. Baked Potatoes. 

Graham Biscuit. 

Stewed Prunes. Fancy Cakes. 

164 



DINNER AT NIGHT 

TWENTY or thirty years ago the late 
dinner was not nearly so popular as it is 
now. The majority of the people dined in 
the middle of the clay, and not a few of them 
considered a six-o'clock dinner as an effort 
after fashion that was unworthy the imita- 
tion of sensible men and women. Even in 
large cities servants rebelled against an alter- 
ation of the time-honored custom of serving 
the principal meal of the day at or near 
noon, while in small towns the late dinner 
was so unusual that it was almost impossible 
to persuade domestics to consent to it. 

A marked change has taken place in the 
fashion. The evening dinner has for years 
been steadily gaining in popularity, and 
promises to become even more common than 
it is now. Thoughtful men and women 
recognize the wisdom of eating lightly at 
midday, when they are in the full tide of 
165 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

business, and reserving the heartiest repast 
for an hour when it can be discussed leisure- 
ly and digested peacefully. Mistresses have 
learned that there is a gain in keeping the 
morning free for house-work, instead of de- 
voting most of it to the preparation of the 
dinner. The light lunch eaten in most homes 
demands much less time in cooking and eat- 
ing than does a dinner, and leaves those who 
have partaken of it more fit for work than 
they would be were their stomachs burdened 
with the task of digesting soup, meat, vege- 
tables, and dessert. 

The late dinner is a more dignified meal 
than can possibly be made of a similar repast 
eaten at noon. The festal appearance im- 
parted by the gleam of candles, lamps, or gas 
upon silver, china, and glass cannot be ac- 
quired by daylight. The pleasant reunion 
around the board of the members of the 
family, whose positions and interests have 
been divergent since morning, the happy 
consciousness that the work of the day is 
done, the knowledge that there is no toil 
waiting at the door of the dining-room, all 
166 



DINNER AT NIGHT 

bear their share in rendering the meal cheer- 
ful and care-free. More ceremony can and 
should be preserved at the evening dinner 
than is feasible at noon. The orderly se- 
quence of courses and careful serving 
have a part in adding to the dignity of the 
meal. 

These suggestions should not frighten the 
housekeeper who contemplates introducing 
the late dinner in her household. Yery lit- 
tle extra work is involved in bestowing the 
touch of state referred to, and, after all, it 
consists chiefly in a slight additional care in 
waiting and serving, and to these the mis- 
tress can readily accustom the maid. 

The dinner-table should be spread with a 
plain white cloth, under which the sub-cover 
of felt or canton flannel must never be lack- 
ing. Any one who has observed the thin 
and sleazy appearance even handsome dam- 
ask presents without this felt under it, and 
has noticed the noise the dishes and silver 
make when moved about where there is 
but the one thickness between them and 
the board, will not voluntarily be long with- 
167 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

out so simple and inexpensive an addition to 
the elegance of her table. 

It is sometimes a rather costly luxury to 
keep a vase of fresh flowers always ready for 
the table. In summer it is comparatively 
easy, even in the city, to get a few blossoms 
every day or two ; but in winter, with flowers 
at exorbitant prices, a single spray, renewed 
twice a week, is an extravagance which the 
housewife does not always feel she can af- 
ford herself. Cheaper and quite as pretty in 
effect is it to have a pot of primroses, or of 
cyclamen, or of some other hardy house 
plant that will bloom for two or three weeks, 
and of which the first cost is but small. 

In setting the table, the knife and the nap- 
kin, with a piece of bread folded in the latter, 
should lie at the right of the plate, the fork 
at the left, the spoon at right angles to both 
of these ; between the plate and the middle 
of the table, the glass, butter-plate, and salt- 
cellar near the point of the knife, within easy 
reach of the right hand. An extra knife or 
fork may be added for each course, where 
either may be needed. A plate must stand 
168 



DINNER AT NIGHT 

at each place, although it is usually removed 
to make room for a hot one after the family 
are seated and the dinner brought on. 

The space in front of the hostess is left 
free for the soup-tureen, and before the host 
is spread the carving -cloth. The carving 
knife and fork are laid upon this. At the 
corner of the table stand the large salts, if 
these are used instead of the individual cel- 
lars, and the pepper-cruets. Near them are 
the tablespoons. The water - pitcher, or 
carafe, the ice bowl, and any relishes in the 
shape of jellies, pickles, etc., are all else that 
is put on the table at the beginning of the 
meal, except the soup tureen and plates. 

"When the latter have been removed, the 
principal meat dish is set in front of the 
carver, and a hot plate is laid for each guest. 
At family dinners the carver generally does 
the helping, although sometimes after the 
meat is cut it is passed, and each person al- 
lowed to help himself. 

The vegetables are next passed by the 
waitress, and offered at the left of each 
person, and after them the jelly or pickles 

169 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

are served. If, before the meat course, 
a fish dish or an entree is offered, it is 
passed usually in the same fashion, Next 
comes the salad, which is always passed, 
after each guest has been supplied with a 
clean plate. This course removed, all the 
soiled dishes and the small silver are re- 
moved, the table is crumbed, and the dessert 
is brought in. If fruit succeeds this, a fresh 
plate and a finger-bowl are given to each one. 
With the fruit comes the coffee. 

Of course there are many families in which 
the daily menu is simpler than that outlined 
above. In large families each added course 
means a perceptible increase of cost, and 
although the judicious manager who has a 
fixed allowance for household expenses may 
so dovetail the retrenchment of one clay that 
it will balance the undue outlay of another, 
yet in most instances she will feel that if she 
can feed her household well and satisfy them, 
without providing them with five or six 
courses at an ordinary dinner, more than this 
would savor of- extravagance. In some 
homes soup each day is considered an ex- 
170 



DINNER AT NIGHT 

pensive luxury. So it is when fresh meat 
must be purchased to make it, or even when 
fresh or canned vegetables have to be bought 
for it ; but when there are bones or trim- 
mings from raw or cooked meats, or vegeta- 
bles left over — a half-can of tomatoes, a cup- 
ful or two of mashed potato, a saucer of 
pease, or other similar remnants — or when 
fish and eggs are plentiful, the soup need be 
but a small item in the expense, and is really 
economical, as, by blunting the edge of the 
appetite, it renders the attack upon the next 
course less vigorous. There is a large va- 
riety of bean, pea, lentil, and cream soups 
that are cheap, palatable, and nourishing. 

Salad is not a frequent dish in many homes, 
but in warm weather it may well be* sub- 
stituted sometimes for soup and cost little 
more. Still that may be a good dinner at 
which neither soup nor salad is seen. The 
final cup of tea or coffee adds a graceful fin- 
ish to a simple dessert, and is generally en- 
joyed by the adult members of the family. 

A word concerning the dinner toilette may 
not be amiss. In England, donning full 
171 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

dress for a late dinner is a matter of course. 
Not so in America. Our independent citi- 
zen usually thinks he honors the home meal 
quite enough if he washes the dust of the day 
from his hands and face, and brushes his hair 
and his coat. Yet there are few homes in 
which the mistress does not change her gown 
for dinner, or at least brighten or freshen her 
attire so as to make it differ decidedly from 
that in which she appeared at breakfast. 
The question involuntarily suggests itself 
why it is easier for a tired woman to dress 
than it is for a tired man, and one wonders 
if the husband would not find in a change of 
toilette the refreshment his wife experiences 
from a similar operation. Even without put- 
ting on full dress, a man should, at least by 
exchanging his office for a house coat, and 
assuming fresh collar, cuffs, and cravat, do 
his share in giving to the dinner-table the 
look of a pleasant social gathering, instead of 
a mere stopping-place for food. 
172 



DINNER AT NOON 



IN some homes it seems out of the question 
to have a late dinner. There may be sev- 
eral reasons for this. Possibly the mistress 
of the house does all her own work, and finds 
it easier to dispose of the bulk of her cook- 
ing in the morning than later, since she thus 
leaves free the afternoon hours for leisure or 
social duties. Or she may, if she keeps ser- 
vants, live in a neighborhood where late din- 
ners are so far the exception that she finds it 
impossible to induce her cook to accede to 
her desire to change the hour of dinner. Or, 
still again, it may seem expedient to dine at 
noon, because that hour better suits her hus- 
band and children. In any one of these 
cases, instead of repining over the inevitable, 
she should set herself to work to make the 
best of circumstances, and do all in her power 
to impart every possible charm to the mid- 
day meal. 

173 , 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

In some parts of the South a one-o'clock 
dinner is almost unheard of, while the— to 
Northerners — singular hour of two, or half 
after two, or three, is chosen. This has the 
advantage of giving the children plenty of 
leisure for eating, as their schools have closed 
by this hour; but the same necessity for 
haste is laid upon the head of the house that 
must always prevail when a busy man is 
obliged to take the time for dinner out of 
the most active part of the day. Whenever, 
for any reason, the meal must be only an in- 
terlude in work, instead of coming at the 
close of the day's labors, it should be made 
a comparatively simple repast. 

There is no doubt that the average Ameri- 
can eats too rapidly. ISTo one who has wit- 
nessed the feats of deglutition performed by 
commercial travellers at a railway station 
will cavil at this assertion. It is safe to at- 
tribute the national disease of dyspepsia to 
this cause fully as much as to the indiges- 
tible viands of which the ordinary citizen 
makes his chief diet. And this haste is not 
confined to the hotel dining-room or the rail- 
174 



DINNER AT NOON 

way eating-house. In private households as 
astonishing and disgusting exhibitions of 
rapid gorging may be seen as are ever wit- 
nessed in public restaurants. 

No one who had once beheld the spectacle 
could ever forget the fashion in which meals 
were conducted in a certain home where 
wealth and every evidence of outward re- 
finement gave promise of better things. The 
father, a man of business from his sixteenth 
year, plainly considered eating the duty to 
be accomplished at the table, and quite ig- 
nored such minor considerations as the inter- 
change of thought or observation, or any of 
the social features usually connected with the 
operation of dining. If he could not quite 
equal Napoleon the First, who was said to 
have often devoured his entire dinner in six 
minutes, he did not fall far behind the great 
warrior. Soup, meat, vegetables, dessert, 
Avere swallowed in rapid succession and in 
almost utter silence. The slight delay insep- 
arable from a change of courses was endured 
impatiently. Almost before the last mouth- 
ful was down, the eager man would push 

175 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

back his chair, spring to his feet, and, with a 
muttered word of farewell, make a rush for 
the street. In an instant the slam of the 
front door would announce that he was on 
his way back to his office. 

His children were not backward in imitat- 
ing him, and all the pleadings of their re- 
fined, care-worn mother were powerless to 
check the influence of the father's example. 
With such a rush at meal-times, elegant or 
even tolerably decent table manners were im- 
possible, and the visitor in the home found 
eating a difficult business when accompanied 
by the sight of the haste and habits that 
often could only be described as revolting. 

If the midday meal must be hurried, let it 
also be simple. There is no rhyme or reason 
in attempting to dispose of a three or four 
course dinner in thirty or forty minutes. If 
only half an hour can be allowed for the repast, 
let this consist of two courses only, either a 
soup and a meat course, a meat course and a 
salad, or a meat course and a dessert. These 
should be served promptly, but in an orderly 
fashion, and both the conduct of the dinner 
170 



DINNER AT NOON 

and the gastric powers will be benefited by 
such simplicity. 

Upon this point the house mother must in- 
sist. Even if her husband will not conform 
to her wishes in this regard, she should re- 
quire from servants and children a certain 
amount of propriety in serving- the meal and 
decorum in its discussion. After seeing that 
the dinner is punctually served, and that the 
courses follow one another promptly, she 
should herself set the example of deliberate 
eating, and should strive, by the introduction 
of interesting subjects, to encourage the pleas- 
ant chat that is a potent aid to digestion. 
It will cost an effort to do this when she is 
weary and harassed by household worries, 
but she will enjoy her own meal more if her 
mind is, by any agreeable means, distracted 
for a little while from her cares. 

For the midday dinner the table should 
be laid as it is at night, and the waiting- 
should be performed in the same fashion. 
The vegetables should, if possible, be served 
from the side, although in a family where 
no waitress is employed they may be set 
12 W 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

upon the table. The custom of having four 
or five vegetables at dinner appears rather 
absurd. Where there are only two courses, 
several kinds may be desired, but as a rule 
two vegetables, or at the most three, are 
quite enough. Only a few of these should 
ever be served in saucers. Even at the 
tables of people who ought to know better 
it is nothing unusual to see two or three 
or more small sauce -plates given to each 
person. One will contain pease, another to- 
matoes, another stewed corn, another pickles 
or jelly. While there may be some sense in 
having separate little dishes for holding such 
semi-fluid compounds as stewed tomatoes, 
stewed corn, or cranberry sauce, there is no 
cause for using them for pease, string-beans, 
spinach, cauliflower, and the like. The ap- 
pearance of such an array suggests a hotel 
table, and detracts from the home-look which 
should always be studied by the house- 
keeper. 

Of course there is no possibility of dressy 
toilettes at midday, but cleanliness and neat- 
ness at least may be attained, and it should 
178 



DINNER AT NOON 

be one of the unwritten laws of the home 
that no one may come to the table looking 
untidy, or in neglige of curl-papers and col- 
larless wrappers for the women and shirt 
sleeves for the men. 

Possibly it may seem strange to many 
people to learn that there are classes among 
whom it is considered no breach of etiquette 
for a man to come to the table not only coat- 
less, but even without his collar, cravat, or 
vest; this, too, not among farmers alone, 
but in cities and in ranks of life much above 
those of the ordinary mechanic or common 
day laborer. Often in the same families the 
wives and daughters will appear well-bred, 
and will dress neatly and tastefully them- 
selves, even while they seem to perceive noth- 
ing shocking in the dishabille of the men of 
the house. Perhaps, since those most inter- 
ested do not complain, no one else has a right 
to criticise ; and yet it does seem as though 
the regard for appearances and for the small 
sweet courtesies of life had some claims. 

In most cases where one notes such care- 
lessness, it will be found that the trouble 
179 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

began very far back, when the boys who are 
now men w r ere allowed a similar license in 
their parents' homes. For the sake of the 
families of the future, if for no other reason, 
the mothers of the rising generation should 
exact appropriate apparel at meals as well 
as correct behavior and careful table man- 
ners from their growing boys and girls, even 
if the children's fathers refuse to conform to 
what they deem over-niceness in dress and 
demeanor. 

180 



THE SUNDAY DINNER 

THE " big dinner " of the week is, in most 
homes, eaten on Sunday. Then the men 
of the family are at home for the day, the 
children have no claims of school or play to 
hurry them through their meals, and there 
is a general impression of delightful leisure 
which seems favorable to the eating and di- 
gestion of an excellent and heart} 7 dinner. 
This repast is usually served at midday, in 
order that the servants may have the after- 
noon and evening to themselves ; and it is 
not uncommon for the mistress of the house 
to prepare the Sunday-evening tea herself. 

The old-fashioned idea of always having a 
cold dinner on the Sabbath is almost obsolete. 
Some people who have been brought up in 
the habit clung for a lono- while to the com- 
promise of serving a piece of cold meat at 
the Sunday dinner, although the vegetables 
181 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

were hot ; but even that is changed now, and 
there are few homes where as large an array 
of smoking viands is not spread upon 

"The day that comes between 
The Saturday and Monday " 

as is ever offered on any non-religious holi- 
day. 

The reasons given at the beginning of this 
chapter are quite sufficient to account for this 
almost universal practice. The good house- 
keeper enjoys seeing her culinary handiwork 
appreciated, and she generally reserves any 
especially tempting bonnes bcniches for Sun- 
day, when she knows that those for whom 
she delights to cater will have the time and 
inclination to give her cookery its meed of 
attention. Without cavilling at this, one 
must at the same time deprecate the amount 
of additional work that the Sunday dinner 
often involves upon what should be, both 
physically and spiritually, a day of rest as 
well as of refreshment. A little thought 
will often enable the housekeeper to so min- 
ify the amount of work to be done on Sunday 

182 



THE SUNDAY DINNER 

that the domestic labors will be perceptibly 
lightened, and the dinner in no wise injured. 
So much of the preparation for the meal can 
be made the day before that the business of 
finally getting.it ready for the table will seem 
comparatively light. 

In one family of strong Sabbatarian prin- 
ciples the omission of soup from the Sunday 
bill of fare was evidently considered a means 
of grace. The tureen and ladle always en- 
joyed a rest upon the first day of the week, 
but by some curious process of ratiocination 
no harm was thought of having at dinner a 
course of salad which cost as much time to 
prepare, and demanded the use and washing 
of as many dishes as would have sufficed to 
serve the tabooed soup. Yet the hostess 
would always say, with an air of conscious 
virtue, " Oh, we never have soup on S n- 
clays," as though the non appearance of that 
dish upon the first day of the week was proof 
positive of a high order of piety. 

In spite of this, the soup course may be 
made a very trifling affair. To say nothing 
of two or three excellent brands of canned 
183 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

soups, which, with a little " doctoring " in the 
way of seasoning, may be rendered quite 
equal to those freshly made, there are many 
soups which can be brought on Saturday 
into a state of such complete readiness that 
all that is necessary on Sunday is to heat 
them for the table. Of these are chicken, 
mutton, and veal broths, consomme, Julienne, 
ox-tail, mock-turtle, black or white bean and 
pea soup — indeed, nearly every soup with a 
meat stock. Cream soups, like tomato, celery, 
potato, cauliflower, green pea, and corn soups, 
are better prepared just before using, and 
these may be served on week-days and yet 
leave a large variety of potages from which 
to make a choice for the Sunday dinner. 

Leaving the soup, something should be 
said concerning the introduction of entrees, 
etc. They are not necessary at a repast so 
essentially domestic as the first-day feast. 
Even if they are prepared the day before, 
their insertion in the bill of fare compels the 
use and washing of another set of plates. 
The man-servant and maid -servant within 
our gates merit a little consideration upon a 
184 



THE SUNDAY DINNER 

day which should bring to them too a modi- 
cum of rest. Still, if an entree is occasionally 
desired, there are those which may be made 
on Saturday, and will need only warming to 
be fit for the table, such as pates of various 
kinds. For these both pastry shells and fill- 
ing may be prepared the day before, so that 
simply heating them and putting them to- 
gether will comprise the work involved in 
getting them ready for the table. 

When, the meat course is reached it be- 
comes less easy to shirk Sunday labor. The 
roast may be bound and skewered, the turkey 
or chickens trussed for roasting, the bread 
crumbed for the stuffing, on Saturday, but 
the stuffing must not go in until the last mo- 
ment, nor must the meats, to be at their best, 
be put into the oven until just in time to per- 
mit their being done in season for dinner. 
With vegetables, too, much of the excellence 
depends upon brisk cooking. Few of them 
are, like spinach, benefited by each time of 
warming over. Since this heavy work can- 
not be avoided, all the housekeeper can do is 
to make the rest of the meal as easy as pos- 

185 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

sible for herself and her servants. At the 
best ; there will be enough to do. 

If a salad is served, the mayonnaise dress- 
ing, if this is used, is no whit injured by 
keeping on the ice even for two or three 
days. The fish, flesh, or fowl, when such 
enter into the composition of the salad, may 
be minced the day before, and kept in a cold 
place until needed. Or if, as is better at din- 
ner, a simple salad of lettuce, celery, or some- 
thing of the kind is used, upon which the 
hostess bestows an ordinary French dressing 
after it is brought to the table, the washing 
and picking over of the salad are a trifling 
matter. 

As to desserts, it is a peculiar taste which 
refuses to be satisfied with some one of the 
many that can be made in part or entirely 
the day before. 

The number of cold desserts is legion, and 
ranges all the way from ices and frozen 
creams through charlottes, jellies, and the 
like, to the simple blanc-manges and custards, 
to say nothing of preserved or brandied fruit. 
Pies of countless kinds there are which can 
186 



THE SUNDAY DINNER 

readily be heated, if a hot dessert is wished, 
and there are delicious cakes which are al- 
most a dessert in themselves. Besides all 
these, in this favored period, there is scarcely 
a day in the year when an attractive dish of 
fresh fruit is beyond the reach of people of 
moderate means. 

While anything approaching a desecration 
of the Sabbath is to be avoided, there should 
yet be a cheerfulness, a pleasant freedom of 
speech at the Sunday dinner-table that ought 
to render it the happiest meal of the week. 
It is not the season for ceremonious enter- 
taining — a large Sunday dinner-party is 
not in America in the best form, even in so- 
called worldly society — but it is the time for 
making a place within the circle of the home 
for solitary men or women far from their own 
people, who have only boarding -places or 
restaurants at which to eat their Sunday din- 
ner. To them even a simple meal, eaten in a pri- 
vate house and among friends, is a choice treat, 
and inviting them is a deed which may fitly 
be classed among the works of mercy which 
even the Westminster Catechism permits. 
187 



THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 

THERE has been so much written about 
the giving of dinner-parties that the 
manager of a small household may well 
shrink in dismay from the labor that obe- 
dience to such rules would lay upon her. 
When she reads descriptions of tables spread 
with the most costly glass, silver, and china, 
of courses consisting of delicacies prepared 
from intricate directions, and served bv three 
or four trained servants — her heart sinks with 
dismay, and she gives up then and there the 
attempt to entertain her friends at dinner. 

Such instructions may be of value to those 
nouveaux riches who are at a loss how to 
conduct a feast where expense is no object. 
Even for them it seems as though it would 
be easier to consign a big dinner to the charge 
of a professional caterer than to drill their 
own servants into fitness for preparing and 
188 



THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 

serving such a repast as some of these man- 
uals describe. But there are many women 
who wish to entertain gracefully, and yet 
who have neither the means nor the inclina- 
tion to attempt doing so on a large or costly 
scale. Possessing plenty of pretty napery, 
silver, and china, having tolerably good cooks 
and well - trained waitresses, the}' feel them- 
selves fairly equipped for giving small din- 
ners, especially when they may order some 
of the most difficult dainties from outside. 
They need not be appalled by the list of 
what are to the majority of them unattain- 
able adjuncts, that are declared by writers 
on the complete art of dining to be indis- 
pensable to a correct dinner. Those who are 
fitted by circumstances to follow these are 
few indeed compared with the army of the 
moderately well-to-do who find such elegance 
quite beyond their modest means. So let 
these pluck up heart of grace, and, instead 
of obeying the quite natural impulse which 
ensues upon the perusal of the aforesaid dis- 
couraging guide-books to entertaining and 
renouncing their plans of hospitality, resolve 
189 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

rather to use their own common-sense and 
good judgment, and give dinners in conso- 
nance with these. 

Of course there are certain rules for setting 
the table, directing the proper sequence of 
courses, and for the waiting, whose observ- 
ance marks familiarity with the etiquette of 
dining, and whose absence denotes ignorance ; 
but these are so simple, so universal, and so 
readily learned that once known it is easier 
to follow them than to devise new ways. 
Among the many advantages of practising 
every day the proper methods of serving and 
waiting is especially this, that when an emer- 
gency of this sort arises, there need be only 
an extension of daily customs, not a total de- 
parture from ordinary habits. 

The etiquette of a small dinner is essentially 
the same as that of a large one. Any wom- 
an who is sure of her cuisine, and who has 
a waitress accustomed to her work, can give 
a pretty little dinner, and there is no pleas- 
anter way of entertaining a few friends whom 
one especially wishes to honor. For a party 
of this sort, six is a good number. When 
190 



THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 

one goes beyond that, the necessity for a 
more ceremonious etiquette, a more imposing 
bill of fare, arises, and this the woman who 
gives only little dinners wishes to shun. 

In setting the table, care must be taken to 
avoid the one extreme of over-crowding, and 
the other of placing the guests so far apart 
that tete-a-tete conversations are difficult. In 
as small a company as this the talk is apt to 
be general, but occasionally there is an op- 
portunity for a duet if the seats are near 
enough together to allow two of their occu- 
pants to carry on a low- voiced chat without 
distracting the attention of the other guests 
from their own topics of discussion. 

In the arrangement of dishes, knives, forks, 
etc., about the same rules are followed that 
apply for luncheon - parties. A fork and a 
knife for each course— the forks laid at the 
left of the plate, the knives at the right, the 
soup spoon across the top of the plate — the 
usual array of salt-cellar, butter -plate (the 
latter is often omitted at dinner), the glasses 
for wine and for water, the folded napkin 
holding a dinner roll, the card, the menu, the 
191 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

individual flowers — all are much the same as 
at a luncheon. The table-cloth should be of 
the heaviest and handsomest damask, the 
centre-piece, the floral decorations, the can- 
delabra, with their candles and silk shades, 
the dishes, containing Iwrs-oV ammes, bonbons, 
glace fruits, etc., differ little from the similar 
array on the table at a formal luncheon. The 
same general plan is to be followed in serv- 
ing the courses. The dinner usually begins 
with oysters or clams. Next comes a soup 
— consomme, or a cream soup of some really 
choice variety. A clear soup is to be pre- 
ferred as being light and easily digested, and 
since one does not wish to begin the meal by 
overloading the stomach, it is better on that 
account than a cream soup or a puree. 

Fish comes next, and this should be, as 
is everything else served at a dinner, either 
choice on account of its rarity, or because of 
the excellent fashion in which it is cooked. 
A piece of salmon or of baked halibut with 
a sauce hollandalse is good, or, in their season, 
salmon trout or any other game fish. Pota- 
toes in some form are served with this course. 
192 



THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 

This is succeeded by an entree, and that in 
turn by the principal meat course of the 
dinner, usually filet de bceuf, accompanied 
by one or two fine vegetables. Next comes 
Koman punch, then game or poultry, follow- 
ed or accompanied by salad, and after that 
is the dessert — pastry, ices, creams, fruits, 
coffee, etc. As may be seen by comparing 
this outline with the directions given for a 
luncheon, the two are very much alike. The 
chief difference is in the kinds of food. Those 
served at a dinner are generally of a more 
solid character than those prepared for a 
luncheon. The latter consists chiefly of petits 
plats. 

A small dinner should not last much more 
than an hour and a half. It is readily dis- 
posed of in that length of time if the cook 
has the courses ready promptly, and if the 
waitress understands her business. All the 
carving should be clone off the table. The 
plates should be put in front of the guests 
from the right side, and removed from the 
left. Of course, whatever dish is passed must 
be offered from the left side. To prevent 
13 193 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEUVE IT 

mistakes the hostess should write out a full 
list of all the courses, what dishes each com- 
prises, and from what china they are to be 
served, noting, too, when there is a change 
of silver. A copy of this schedule should be 
in the hands of the cook, while the butler or 
waitress should have a duplicate pinned up 
in a convenient place in the butler's pantry, 
to serve as a reference in case the memory 
of one of them should play false. 

While caterers can be found who will sup- 
ply almost any dish which may be suggested, 
a graceful touch of individuality is imparted 
to a dinner if certain plats are prepared at 
home. Only, they must be well clone, or they 
were better omitted altogether. The ices, 
biscuit, and Charlottes usually come from 
outside, but the entrees and salads, as well as 
soup, and the fish, meat, and game, may be 
prepared in the house, and be none the worse 
on that account. 

Coffee is sometimes served in the dining- 
room, but quite as often passed in the parlor. 
It is never in good taste to have a large as- 
sortment of wines at a small dinner. Claret 
194 



THE SMALL DINNER-PARTY 

and champagne are quite enough, or even 
claret alone is sufficient. 

When the hostess is ordering her dinner, 
she should bear in mind who her guests are 
to be, and arrange her bill of fare in accord- 
ance with her bill of company. The advis- 
ability of this is illustrated in the anecdote 
told of an English restaurateur who, on be- 
ing ordered to prepare a dinner for twelve 
clergymen, begged respectfully to know if 
they were High-Church or Broad-Church, 
" for hif 'Igh-Church, they wants more 
wine ; hif Broad-Church, more wittles." 

It is not worth while to prepare highly 
spiced entremets and dishes of mushrooms 
and terrapin for guests who would be better 
suited with plainer viands; while, on the 
other hand, a very simple dinner is not the 
thing to set before a company of epicures. 
195 



A LARGE DINNER 

THUS far the descriptions of breakfasts, 
luncheons, and dinners have been giv- 
en from the standpoint of the housekeeper. 
The outline of this, a more ceremonious meal 
than any before described, will be from the 
point of view of the guest, who regards ev- 
erything as a mere spectator, and not with 
the eyes of the hostess, who has studied 
every step of the repast from its inception 
to its completion. 

Two weeks before the dinner the guest re- 
ceives his invitation, which may have been 
sent either by private hand or by post. The 
latter method in these days of "magnificent 
distances " is rapidly growing in favor. The 
invitation card, which is about three and a 
half inches wide by four and a half long, is 
engraved in a dashing script as follows : 
196 



A LARGE DINNER 

Mr. and Mrs. Pelliam Blank 
request the pleasure of 

Mr. 's company 

at dinner on 

at half -past seven o clock, 
Gramercy Square. 

The name of the guest and the elate of the 
dinner are written in the blank spaces on the 
card. To this invitation he sends an imme- 
diate reply. 

The guest reaches the house of his enter- 
tainers on the appointed evening at a few 
minutes before the dinner hour. In the coat- 
room he finds a man-servant in attendance, 
ready to assist in any trifling matters of the 
toilet, who hands each gentleman, on a silver 
tray, a tiny envelope, enclosing a card bear- 
ing the name of the lady he is to take in to 
dinner. Descending to the drawing-room, 
the name of the guest is announced at the 
door by a servant, who draws aside the por- 
tiere to allow him to enter. His first address 
is, of course, to Mr. and Mrs. Blank, who 
stand near the door receiving. The young 
197 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

man, Fidus by name, congratulates himself 
inwardly that he at least is on time, and, see- 
ing at a glance how few of his fellow con- 
vives have arrived, marvels anew, as he has 
done often before, that well-bred people will 
be so careless of the laws that regulate good 
society as to arrive at a house ten, fifteen, 
and even twenty minutes after the hour fixed 
for dinner. 

As Fidus has never met the young lady 
whose name is written on the card presented 
to him in the dressing-room, he promptly re- 
quests an introduction of his hostess, and 
chats with his fate for this evening until — all 
of the fourteen invited guests having arrived 
— a servant draws back the portieres and an- 
nounces by a bow that dinner is served. Mr. 
Blank offers his arm to the guest for whom 
the dinner is especially given — a charming 
Englishwoman — and the rest of the party 
follow them to the dining-room. There is 
no suggestion of precedence, except as the 
younger guests naturally give way to the 
elders of the company. Mrs. Blank and her 
attendant cavalier come last. 
198 



A LAEGE DINNEE 

The dining-room, a fine large apartment, is 
lighted only by candles ; but there are plenty 
of these in sconces, in candelabra, in candle- 
sticks of odd and pretty designs. Flowers 
are all about wherever their use, either singly 
or massed, can produce a good effect. 

The places at table are marked by plain 
white cards, each with the name of a guest 
painted on it in gold. The table decorations 
are quiet in effect, but in excellent taste. 
The cloth, of pure white plain damask, is 
covered through the centre with a scarf of 
elaborate drawn-work. In place of the tow- 
ering epergnes once so fashionable, the floral 
ornaments, candelabra, etc., are all low. 
Pink roses, white lilacs, and maidenhair ferns 
are the flowers used ; and these are not ar- 
ranged in set form, but are simply massed 
in cut-glass bowls, three in number, placed 
here and there through the centre of the ta- 
ble. The candelabra are also of cut glass, 
which is used wherever it is possible, in pref- 
erence to silver. A corsage bouquet of the 
flowers mentioned above, tied with a wide 
pink ribbon, awaits each lady at her place, 
199 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

while a boutonniere lies beside the name card 
of each man. The candles are shaded with 
alternate pink and white shades, and the sil- 
ver and china are of the daintiest and pret- 
tiest. 

At each place are two large knives and a 
smaller one — one of these being supposed to 
be for fish, although it is decidedly contre 
les regies to use a knife for fish — a small 
fork for fish, three large forks, a spoon for 
soup, and a small oyster fork. The knives 
are at the right, the forks at the left of the 
plate, and on the left is also the folded nap- 
kin containing the bread. The glasses for 
water and wine are on the right. There are 
generally four of the latter, for claret, sau- 
terne, champagne, and sherry. 

A plate holding raw oysters and a piece of 
lemon is at each place when the guests enter. 
When these have been eaten, soup is served, 
a consomme ; and this is not brought to the 
table in the tureen, but is served from the 
side. Next comes the fish — a piece of salmon, 
with lobster sauce, it happens to be on this 
particular occasion— and it is followed by the 
200 



A LAEGE DINNEE 

entrees. To save time, three of these are 
served at once ; but Fidus declines one, deem- 
ing it unwise to overload his plate and his 
stomach at so early a stage in the proceed- 
ings. 

After the entrees comes the roast, with one 
vegetable ; and the sorbet or Roman punch 
succeeds this, and precedes the game. Salad, 
cheese, and bread-and-butter compose the 
next course, and, the table being cleared for 
dessert, ices make their appearance. After 
these are disposed of come the fruit, bon- 
bons, etc. 

Wine has, of course, flowed freely during 
the repast, but the drinking has been very 
moderate, after all, and each guest has felt 
at liberty to refuse any of the wines offered. 
Sherry has been served with the soup, sau~ 
terne with the fish, and claret with the roast, 
while after the first course or two champagne 
has had all seasons for its own. At some 
dinners a larger number of wines are served, 
but this, so far from being essential, is not 
considered strictly good form. Nor have 
there been favors given, as one would suppose, 

201 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEKVE IT 

from perusing books of etiquette, that this is 
a common custom at ceremonious dinners. 
Such a proceeding, while it might in one way 
be agreeable to the guests, would entail a 
heavy burden of expense upon the hosts, and 
might, moreover, place the recipients of 
these mementos under an obligation which 
they would not thoroughly enjoy. If favors 
are given, they should be pretty but inex- 
pensive trifles. 

The dessert discussed, the ladies leave the 
gentlemen to their own devices for a while, 
and retire to the drawing-room. Coffee 
might have been served before they quitted 
the table, but in this case it is sent to the 
ladies in the drawing-room, where they sip it 
leisurely, while the men enjoy theirs with 
their cigars in the salle a manger, and par- 
take of the tiny glasses of cordial that is 
supposed to serve as an aid to digestion. 
When they finally leave the table two hours 
and a half have passed since they seated 
themselves, and they are quite ready to stand 
about the drawing-room chatting for a while 
after their prolonged seance. 
202 



A LARGE DINNER 

As no music or other entertainment be- 
yond the dinner has been arranged for the 
guests, they remain only about an hour after 
the meal is ended, and then make their 
acknowledgments and adieux to the host 
and hostess, and wend their respective ways 
homeward. 

203 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING 

1. 

Lentil Soup. 

Fricasseed Chicken. 

Rice Croquettes. Buttered Sweet Potatoes. 

Peach Brown Betty. 

Lentil Soup. — One pint lentils, two quarts 
cold water, one onion, one tablespoonful 
flour, two teaspoonfuls butter, pepper and 
celery-salt to taste. Soak the lentils over- 
night in cold water ; drain them the next 
morning, and put them over the fire with 
the two quarts of water and the onion ; sim- 
mer for several hours until the lentils are 
very soft. If the water boils away too fast, 
replenish the amount from the tea-kettle. 
When the lentils are done, rub them through 
the colander and return them to the fire ; 
cook the butter and flour together in a small 
saucepan until the mixture bubbles, and stir 
into the soup. Season to taste, and pour on 
204 



FAMILY DINNERS FOE SPRING 

tiny squares of fried bread laid in your tu- 
reen, and serve. 

Buttered Sweet Potatoes. — Boil good-sized 
sweet potatoes, scrape them, and slice them 
lengthwise ; butter each piece, lay all in a 
pan, and set them in the oven until the but- 
ter is well melted into the potatoes. 

Peach Brown Betty. — Stew a pound of 
evaporated peaches until tender and plump ; 
place a layer of these in the bottom of a 
pudding dish, sprinkle them plentifully with 
sugar, and strew them quite thickly with fine 
bread-crumbs, scattering a little cinnamon 
over this ; then arrange another layer of 
peaches, more sugar, crumbs, and spice, and 
so continue until the dish is full. Just be- 
fore adding the last layer, w T hich should be 
of crumbs, pour in as much of the liquor in 
which the peaches were stewed as the dish 
will hold without "floating" the contents. 
After the top stratum of crumbs is in place, 
dot it w x ith bits of butter; bake it covered 
for half an hour in a moderate oven, uncover 
and brown. Eat with hard sauce. 

Hard Sauce. — One tablespoon ful butter, 
205 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

one cup powdered sugar, half - teaspoonf ul 
flavoring. Cream the butter and sugar to- 
gether until very light, flavor, press into a 
cup or small mould, turn out, and pass with 
the pudding. 

2. 

Boiled Mutton, Sauce Soubise. 

Mashed Turnips. Baked Hominy. 

Apple Charlotte. 

Boiled Mutton, Sauce Soiibise. — In pur- 
chasing your mutton, select a fine large leg, 
and have it cut in two, in such a way that 
the knuckle and the lower part of the leg 
will make a good piece for boiling, leaving 
the upper part for roasting. 

Sauce Soabise. — Four onions chopped, one 
tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful butter, 
one cup of the liquor in which the mutton 
was boiled ; pepper and salt to taste. Stew 
the onions until very tender ; drain them, and 
rub them through a colander ; put the butter 
and flour together in a little saucepan, cook 
them until they bubble ; add the mutton 
liquor, which must have been cooled and 
skimmed ; stir all together until thick and 
206 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING 

smooth ; add the pepper, salt, and the strain- 
ed onions ; pass with the boiled mutton. If 
properly made, this is a very appetizing sauce. 

Baked Hominy. — To two cupfuls of cold 
boiled hominy add a tablespoonful of melted 
butter, a tablespoonful of white sugar, one 
egg beaten, a cupful of milk, and a little salt ; 
beat all together until light, and bake in a 
buttered pudding dish. Serve as a vegetable. 

Apple Charlotte. — Two eggs, two cups 
milk, half -cup sugar, two cups rather stiff 
apple-sauce. Make a boiled custard of the 
yolks of the eggs, the milk, and the sugar; 
whip the whites of the eggs very light, and 
beat them into the apple sauce, which should 
have been well sweetened while hot. Heap 
the sauce and whites in a dish, and pour the 
custard over it. Set in the ice-box, or some 
other cold place for half an hour before send- 
ing to the table. 

3. 

Mutton and Rice Broth. 

Roast Mutton. 

Creamed Parsnips. Mashed Potatoes. 

Sponge-Cake Trifle. 

Mutton and Rice Broth. — Strain and skim 
207 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

the liquor in which the mutton was boiled ; 
put it over the fire with two tablespoonfuls 
of raw rice, and let it cook about three quar- 
ters of an hour, until the rice is soft ; stir 
into it a cup of boiling milk which has been 
thickened with a tablespoonf ul of flour. Af- 
ter this is added to the broth, let it boil up 
once, and then serve. 

Creamed Parsnips. — Boil and peel pars- 
nips ; cut them in slices, and, after spreading 
each slice with butter, lay in a vegetable 
dish, and pour over them a white sauce made 
of a cup of boiling milk cooked until thick 
with two teaspoonfuls of flour and one of 
butter ; pepper and salt to taste. 

Sponge -Cake Trifle. — Cut a stale sponge- 
cake into slices, and pour over each piece 
enough shercy to moisten it thoroughly. 
Spread the cake with raspberry or straw- 
berry jam, and cover all with a pint of 
whipped cream, slightly sweetened. 
208 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING 

4. 

Veal Cutlets. Baked Tomatoes. 

Creamed Spaghetti. — 

Asparagus Salad. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Coffee. 

Light Cakes. 

Baked Tomatoes. — Select fine large toma- 
toes, and cut a small piece out of the stem 
end of each. In this hole place a small lump 
of butter, about half the size of a hickory- 
nut. Bake the tomatoes slowly for half an 
hour ; take up, and keep hot while you thick- 
en the juice left in the pan with a teaspoon- 
f ul of flour wet up in a very little cold water. 
Set the pan on top of the stove, and let its 
contents boil up once. Season to taste with 
pepper and salt, and pour this sauce over the 
tomatoes. 

Creamed Spaghetti. — One half pound spa- 
ghetti boiled tender in two quarts boiling 
water, slightly salted ; one tablespoonful 
butter ; two teaspoonfuls flour ; one cup 
milk ; four tablespoonf uls grated cheese ; 
pepper and salt to taste. Cook the butter 
14 209 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

and flour together ; add the seasoning and 
the cheese. Drain the spaghetti, put it in a 
deep dish, and pour the sauce over it. 

Asparagus Salad. — Boil a bunch of aspar- 
agus until tender; drain it, and put it on the 
ice. "When perfectly cold, pour over it a 
half-cupful mayonnaise dressing into which 
has been stirred a teaspoonful of French 
mustard. Canned asparagus may be used 
when the fresh is out of season. 

5. 

Cream Corn Soup. 

Stewed Pigeons. 

Baked Potatoes. Fried Bananas. 

Apricot Fritters. 

Cream Corn Soup. — One can corn, three 
cups boiling water, two cups milk, one table- 
spoonful butter, two tablespoonfuls flour, 
one egg, pepper and salt to taste. Drain the 
liquor from the corn, and chop the latter 
fine ; cook it in the boiling water for an 
hour; rub it through the colander, and re- 
turn it to the fire. Have the milk hot in a 
farina kettle. Thicken it with the flour and 
butter; season, and pour a little at a time 
210 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SPRING 

upon the beaten egg. Stir this in with the 
hot corn puree, and serve at once. 

Stewed Pigeons. — Cut pigeons in half, place 
a la} r er of salt pork cut in thin strips in the 
bottom of a saucepan, and lay the pigeons on 
this ; sprinkle with a little chopped onion ; 
pour over them enough hot water to cover 
them, put a closely fitting top on the pot, 
and cook them slowly for two hours. Take 
out the birds and the pork, and keep them 
hot while you thicken the gravy left in the 
pot with a little browned flour wet up in cold 
water ; boil up once, pour over the pigeons, 
and serve. 

Fried Bananas. — Select firm bananas, peel 
them, and slice them lengthwise ; dip them in 
egg, roll them in very line cracker-crumbs, 
and fry them in deep fat to a light brown. 
Serve on a napkin laid in a deep dish. 

Apricot Fritters. — Stew evaporated apri- 
cots until tender, adding, when half done, 
sugar in the proportion of two tablespoon- 
fuls to every cupful of juice. When the 
apricots are tender, take them out, leaving 
the syrup to reduce by boiling until it is 
21.1 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

quite thick. Dip each piece of apricot into 
a frying batter made of a cup of flour, a ta- 
blespoonful of melted butter, a small cup of 
warm water, and the white of an egg beaten 
light ; drop these fritters into boiling deep 
fat. When done, lay on a piece of brown 
paper in a colander for a few minutes, trans- 
fer to a hot dish, and pour the hot syrup 
over and around them. 

6. 

Broiled Shad. 

Canned French Pease. New Potatoes. 

Lettuce. 

Preserved Ginger. 

Fancy Cakes. 

Canned French Pease. — Drain the pease, 
and put them in a frying-pan with a table- 
spoonful of melted butter smoking hot ; toss 
the pease about in this until they are heated 
through and well coated with the butter; 
season with pepper and salt, and serve at 
once. 

Lettuce. — Dress on the table with a plain 
French dressing. 



212 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SUMMER 

1. 

• Green-Pea Soup. 

Roast Shoulder of Veal. 

Boiled Potatoes. Asparagus with Eggs. 

Cherry Dumplings. 

Green-Pea Soap. — One quart shelled pease 
cooked until tender, one quart milk, two ta- 
blespoonfuls butter, one teaspoonful sugar, 
one tablespoonful flour, salt to taste. Press 
the pease, after they have been boiled and 
drained, through a colander ; put them back 
on the fire, and stir into them the milk, boil- 
ing hot, thickened with the butter and flour 
and seasoned with the sugar and salt. Boil 
up once, and serve. 

Asparagus with .Eggs. — One bunch aspar- 
agus, two hard-boiled eggs, one cup white 
sauce. Boil the asparagus until tender ; cut 
the stalks into inch lengths, rejecting the 
hard woody portions ; chop the hard-boiled 
213 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

eggs coarsely, and stir with the asparagus 
into the white sauce, which must be boiling 
hot. Serve at once. 

Cherry Dumjilings. — Make a biscuit crust 
of two cups of flour, a tablespoonful of but- 
ter rubbed into it, a little salt, a teaspoonful 
of baking-powder, and milk enougk to make 
a soft dough. Roll out into a sheet a quar- 
ter of an inch thick, and cut into squares 
about three inches across. Stone the cher- 
ries; put a spoonful into the centre of each 
square of paste ; sprinkle with sugar, fold 
the edges across, and pinch them together. 
Lay them with the pinched edges downward 
in a pan, and bake to a light brown. Eat 
with a hard sauce made as directed in the 
preceding chapter. 

2. 

Fish Chowder. 

Broiled Lamb Chops. Raw Tomatoes. 

Young Onions Stewed. 

Strawberry Meringue. 

Fish Chowder. — Two pounds fresh fish, 
two good-sized potatoes, one cup milk, a 
quarter of a pound of salt pork, one onion 
214 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SUMMER 

minced, one tablespoonful chopped parsley, 
enough boiling water to cover all the ingre- 
dients after they are in the pot. Cat up the 
fish, the pork, and the potatoes (which should 
have been peeled and parboiled) into pieces 
less than an inch square. Place in a pot or 
saucepan first a layer of pork, then one of 
fish strewn with onions and parsley, then 
one of potatoes ; repeat the layers in this 
order until all the materials are used. Pour 
in the water, cover closely, and let it cook 
slowly a full hour. Split and butter half a 
dozen Boston crackers ; let them soak in the 
cupful of milk over the fire for iive minutes ; 
take them out, and lay them in the tureen, 
and pour the chowder over them. Pass 
lemon with it. 

This chowder is even better the second 
day than the first, although there is rarely 
much left over. 

Strawberry Meringue. — Line a pie - dish 
with puff paste, bake this carefully, and then 
place in it a thick layer of hulled strawber- 
ries ; rather small ones are best for this pur- 
pose. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar, 
215 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

and heap over them a meringue made of the 
whites of four eggs whipped stiff with half 
a cup of powdered sugar. Just before put- 
ting it in stir lightly into it a cupful of the 
berries. Set the pie-plate containing the me- 
ringue in the oven long enough to brown 
delicately, and eat when perfectly cold. 

3. 

Asparagus Soup. 

Boiled Chicken. Green Pease. 

Summer Squash. 

Raspberry Pudding. 

Asparagus Soup. — Boil a bunch of aspara- 
gus until it is very tender. When done, cut 
off the green tips, and put them aside, and 
rub the stalks in a colander, getting all of 
them through that you can. Heat four cups 
of milk in a double boiler, add the strained 
asparagus to this, and thicken with a table- 
spoonful of butter rubbed in one of flour. 
Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the 
asparagus tops (which should have been kept 
hot), and serve. 

Easpberry Pudding. — Two cups raspber- 
ries (red or black), three cups flour, three 
216 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SUMMER 

eggs, two cups milk, one tablespoonful but- 
ter, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, salt- 
spoonful salt. Beat the eggs very light, and 
mix with the butter, melted, and the milk. 
Stir into this the flour sifted with the salt 
and baking-powder, taking care that the bat- 
ter does not lump. Dredge the berries with 
flour, add them to the pudding, and boil this 
in a plain pudding mould, set in a pot of 
boiling water, for three hours. Take care 
that the water does not come over the top of 
the mould. Serve with hard sauce. 



4. 

Egg Soup. 
Roast Lamb. Mint Sauce. 

Beets. Succotash. Green Pease. 

. Melons. 

Egg Soup. — One quart milk, four eggs, one 
onion sliced, one tablespoonful flour, one ta- 
blespoonful butter, salt and pepper to taste. 
Heat the milk to scalding in a double boiler 
with the onion. Thicken the milk with the 
flour and butter, and season to taste. Poach 
the eggs in boiling water, lay them in the 
217 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

bottom of the tureen, and strain the soup 
upon them. Simple and nutritious. 

Mint Sauce. — Four tablespoonfuls vinegar, 
one tablespoonful mint chopped very fine, 
one tablespoonful white sugar, a very little 
salt and pepper. Pour the vinegar upon the 
sugar and mint, and let them stand in a cool 
place a full hour before using. Add the salt 
and pepper just before sending to table. 

For the benefit of those who are sometimes 
unable to procure the fresh herb, it may be 
stated that the dried mint sold in bottles is 
an excellent substitute. 

5. 

Cheese Soup. 

Beef a la Mode. 

Fried Cucumbers. Cauliflower. Green Corn. 

Fresh Fruit. 

Cheese Soup. — One egg ; a half - cupful 
grated cheese ; one onion ; two cups milk ; 
two cups veal, chicken, or other white stock ; 
one tablespoonful flour; one tablespoonful 
butter ; pepper and salt to taste. Heat the 
milk and stock with the onion. Remove the 
latter, and thicken the liquid with the butter 

218 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR SUMMER 

and flour rubbed smooth together. Stir in 
the cheese, pour a little of the soup on the 
egg beaten light, add this to the soup in the 
pot, season, and serve immediately. It is a 
good plan to put a tiny pinch of soda into 
the milk before adding the cheese. 

Beef d la Mode. — Select a good piece of 
beef from the round, and "plug" it thickly 
with beef suet or with strips of fat salt pork. 
Make other incisions into which to crowd a 
force-meat made of finely chopped salt pork 
mixed with twice the bulk of bread-crumbs, 
and seasoned with herbs, allspice, onion, and 
vinegar. Fasten the meat securely in shape 
with a stout band of cotton cloth, lay it in a 
pot, pour over it three cups of boiling wa- 
ter, cover closely, and cook slowly for three 
hours, or until tender. Turn the meat once. 
Thicken the gravy left in the pot with 
browned flour, and pass with the meat. 

This piece of meat will be as- good cold as 
it is hot, and makes a welcome apiece de re- 
sistance upon which to rely for lunch or tea. 

Fried Cucumbers. — Peel the cucumbers; 
slice them lengthwise, making about four 
219 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

slices of a cucumber of ordinary size. Lay 
them in salt and water for an hour, take out, 
drain, and dry. Dip first in beaten egg, then 
in cracker-crumbs, and fry as you would egg- 
plant. 

6. 

Boiled Cod. Egg Sauce. 

Lima Beans. Mashed Potatoes. 

Tomatoes. Mayonnaise Dressing. 

Baked Peacli Pudding. 

Baked Peach Pudding. — Two cups flour, 
one cup milk, one egg, one teaspoonful bak- 
ing-powder, one tablespoonful butter, salt- 
spoonful salt, eight medium-sized peaches, 
peeled and stoned. Beat the egg with the 
milk, stir in the butter, melted, and the flour 
sifted with the salt and baking-powder. 
Place the peaches in the bottom of a pud- 
ding dish, sprinkle them well with sugar, 
pour the batter over them, bake the pudding 
in a quick oven, and eat it before it has time 
to fall. Serve either hard or liquid sauce 
with it. 

220 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN 
1. 

Cauliflower Soup. 

Roast Beef. 

Baked Tomatoes and Corn. Boiled Sweet Potatoes. 

Fried Egg-Plant. 

Cocoanut Custards. 

Cauliflower Soup. — Cut a medium-sized 
cauliflower into small clusters, chop all ex- 
cept two bunches, and put all on the fire in 
four cups of boiling water with a minced 
onion and a couple of sprigs of parsley ; cook 
until tender. Remove the unchopped bunch- 
es, and lay them aside, while you rub the 
chopped and boiled portion through a col- 
ander ; return what comes through the sieve 
to the stove. Have ready in a double boiler 
a pint of scalding milk ; thicken this with a 
tablespoon ful of butter rubbed smooth with 
an equal quantity of flour, and then mix with 
the strained cauliflower. Season to taste, 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

drop in the reserved clusters cut into small 
bits, and serve the soup immediately. 

Baked Tomatoes and Com. — Cut a slice 
from the top of each of several large firm 
tomatoes ; scoop out about two thirds of the 
pulp, taking care not to break the sides ; fill 
the cavities thus left with green corn, boiled, 
cut from the cob, and chopped fine with a 
little butter, pepper, and salt; arrange the 
tomatoes thus stuffed in a baking-dish, put 
a few bits of butter here and there between 
them, and bake half an hour. If you have a 
half- cupful of good gravy, pour this over 
them instead of putting the butter between 
them. 

Fried Egg- Plant. — Peel and cut the egg- 
plant into slices less than half an inch thick 
an hour before it is to be cooked ; lay the 
slices in salted iced water, with a plate over 
them to keep them from floating. Just be- 
fore dinner wipe each slice dry, lay it in 
beaten egg, and then roll it in salted and 
peppered cracker-crumbs. Have ready lard 
or really good dripping in a frying-pan, and 
frv the slices brown. 



FAMILY DINNERS FOE AUTUMN 

Cocoanut Custards. — Three eggs, three 
cups milk, half -cup sugar, half a cocoanut 
grated, one teaspoonful vanilla. Heat the 
milk to boiling ; pour it upon the beaten eggs 
and sugar ; return to the fire, and cook the 
custard until it thickens. When it reaches 
the right consistency take it from the stove, 
and when it has partially cooled stir in the 
vanilla and cocoanut. Fill small cups with 
this, set them in a pan of boiling water in 
the oven, and bake until set. 

2. 

Veal Soup. 

Stewed Lamb a la Jardiniere. 

Creamed Potatoes. 

Slieed Peach Pie. 

Veal Soup. — Two pounds lean veal from 
the leg (cut into small pieces), a few veal 
bones well broken, two quarts cold water, 
one onion, two stalks celery, a little parsley, 
two tablespoonfuls rice, salt and pepper to 
taste. Slice the onions, and fry them in the 
soup-pot to a good brown in a little drip- 
ping; put the meat in on them, and when 
this has browned add the veal bones, the 
223 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

celery, the parsley, and water. Let all sim- 
mer gently for several hours. Set the soup 
aside with the meat in it until cool ; skim, 
strain, and return to the pot, with the raw 
rice and the seasoning. Let the soup cook 
slowly until the rice is tender, and then serve. 
Pass grated cheese with this soup. 

Stewed Lamb a la Jardiniere. — Select a 
good-sized breast of lamb, and lay it in a 
saucepan ; pour over it enough cold water to 
nearly cover it, and put a closely fitting lid 
on the pot. While it is simmering gently, 
parboil half a cupful of string or Lima beans, 
half a cupful of green pease (fresh or canned), 
two small carrots cut into neat, thin slices, 
and a few clusters of cauliflower. When the 
lamb is nearly done, lay these vegetables on 
it ; put with them two tomatoes sliced, and 
cook about fifteen minutes. In serving this 
dish arrange the vegetables around the meat, 
and pour over them the gravy, which should 
be thickened with browned flour after the 
meat and vegetables have been taken from it. 

Sliced Peach Pie. — Line a pie-plate with 
a good paste, and cover it with peaches, 
224 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN 

sliced, but not peeled ; sprinkle thickly with 
sugar, and bake in a steady oven. There 
must be no top crust, but a meringue may 
be added when the pie is nearly done, and 
lightly browned. This pie is very good. 

3. 

Tomato Soup Maigre. 

Baked White-Fish. 

Mashed Potatoes. Fried Oyster-Plant. 

Rice-and-Pear Pudding. 

Tomato Soup Maigre. — Fry a sliced onion 
brown in butter or good dripping in the bot- 
tom of the soup-pot; pour in the chopped 
contents of a can of tomatoes and two cups 
of boiling water ; stew until tender, rub 
through a colander, return to the fire ; add a 
half -cupful of boiled rice; thicken with a 
tablespoonful of butter rubbed smooth with 
one of flour ; boil up, and serve. 

Baked White-Fish. — Select a good-sized 
fish, and stuff it with a dressing of bread- 
crumbs well seasoned and moistened with a 
little melted butter. Sew the fish up care- 
fully ; pour a cupful of boiling water over it 
after' it is laid in the dripping-pan, and bake 
15 235 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

(covered) for an hour, basting several times 
with butter. Remove the threads before 
sending to table. 

Rice - and - Pear Pudding. — Three cups 
boiled rice, two eggs, one cup sugar, one 
cup milk, stewed or canned pears. Stir the 
beaten eggs, the sugar, and the milk into the 
rice ; put a layer of this in the bottom of a 
pudding mould, and cover this with a stratum 
of pears ; follow this with more rice, then 
more pears, and continue thus until all the 
materials are used ; set the mould in boiling 
water, and boil for an hour. Eat the pud- 
ding with a hot custard sauce. 

4. 

Potato Puree. 

Beef's Heart, Stuffed. Stewed Sweet-Potatoes. 

Scalloped Squash. 

MeriDgued Apples. 

Potato Puree. — Two cups mashed potato, 
one onion, four cups boiling water, one stalk 
celery, one cup milk, one teaspoonful butter, 
one tablespoonful flour, pepper and salt to 
taste. Cook the potato, onion, and celery in 
the water for half an hour ; rub through a 
226 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN 

colander, return to the fire; add the milk, 
thicken, and season. 

Meringned Apples. — Eight fine large ap- 
ples, peeled, cored, and quartered ; two table- 
spoonfuls butter, juice of a large lemon, one 
cup white sugar, nutmeg to taste, whites of 
three eggs, half -cup powdered sugar. Heat 
the butter, sugar, lemon juice, and nutmeg 
in a double boiler; drop the quartered ap- 
ples into this, and let them cook until ten- 
der ; take them out and lay in a glass dish, 
cover with a meringue made of the whites of 
the eggs and the powdered sugar, and pass 
the syrup from the apples in a little pitcher, 
with the meringued fruit. 

5. 

Julienne Soup. 

Irish Stew. 

Creamed Carrots. Stewed Corn. 

Peach-and-Tapioca Pudding. 

Peach-and- Tapioca Pudding. — One small 
cupful tapioca, one can peaches, half -cup 
sugar. Soak the tapioca overnight in three 
cupfuls of water ; the next day arrange the 
canned peaches in a dish, pouring over them 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEKVE IT 

about a cupful of the liquor from the can ; 
sprinkle them well with sugar, pour the ta- 
pioca on them, and bake until this is clear. 
Eat hot with hard sauce. 

6. 

Salmon Soup. 

Mutton Chops. 

Baked Onions. Stuffed Egg-Plant. 

Cream Rice Pudding. 

Salmon Sou]). — One can salmon, one cup 
bread-crumbs, one quart water, two cups 
milk, one teaspoonf ul butter, pepper and salt 
to taste. Pick to pieces the contents of a 
can of salmon, removing the bones, bits of 
skin, etc. ; put over the fire with the water 
and seasoning, and cook half an hour ; stir in 
the butter, the milk, and the crumbs, and 
serve. Pass sliced lemon with this. 

Stuffed Egg - Plant. — Boil an egg-plant 
thirty minutes, cut it in half, and scrape 
out the inside ; mash this up with two ta- 
blespoonfuls of butter, and pepper and salt 
to taste; fill the two halves of the shell, 
sprinkle with" crumbs, and brown in the 
oven. 

228 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN 

Cream Rice Pudding. — Three cups milk, 
three tablespoonfuls rice, one cupful sugar, 
one teaspoonful vanilla. Wash the rice, put 
it with the milk, sugar, and flavoring into a 
pan, and bake in a slow oven for three or 
four hours. Every time a crust forms on 
top, stir it in, until just before taking it from 
the oven. Eat cold. 

229 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR WINTER 

1. 

Turnip Puree. 

Roast Turkey. 

Fried Parsnips. Browned Onions. 

Mashed Potatoes. 

Orange Roly-Poly. 

Turnip Puree. — Eight turnips, one onion, 
one stalk celery, four cups Avater, two cups 
milk, one tablespoonful butter, one table- 
spoonful flour, pepper and salt to taste. 
Peel and cut up the turnips, and put them 
over the lire with the onion in the four cups 
of water ; let them cook until tender, and 
then rub them through the colander, and put 
them back on the fire. Cook the butter and 
flour together in a saucepan ; add the milk, 
stir into the turnip, season to taste, and 
serve. 

Browned Onions. — Peel rather small on- 
ions, and boil them until tender; drain off 

230 



FAMILY DINNEES FOE WINTEE 

the water, and pour over the onions a cup- 
ful of soup or gravy ; let the onions simmer 
in tins for ten minutes ; then take them out, 
and keep them hot while you thicken the 
gravy with browned flour. Four over the 
onions just before sending to the table. 

Orange Holy- Poly. — Two cups flour, one 
and a half cups milk, one tablespoonful but- 
ter, one tablespoonful lard, two teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder, one saltspoonful salt, four 
fair-sized sweet oranges, half -cup sugar. Sift 
the baking-powder and the salt with the flour; 
rub the butter and lard into it ; add the milk, 
and roll out the dough into a sheet about half 
as wide as it is long; spread this with the 
oranges peeled, sliced, and seeded ; sprinkle 
these with sugar ; roll up the dough with the 
fruit inside, pinching the ends together, that 
the juice may not run out ; tie the pudding up 
in a cloth, allowing it room to swell ; drop it 
into a pot of boiling water, and boil it stead- 
ily for an hour and a half ; remove from the 
cloth, and lay on a hot dish. Eat with hard 
sauce flavored with lemon. 



231 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

2. 

Turkey Soup. 

Roast Pork. Apple-Sauce. 

Boiled Potatoes. Stewed Tomatoes. 

Chocolate Custards. 

Turkey Soup. — Break up the carcass of the 
cold turkey after all the meat has been cut 
from it, and put it, with bits of skin and 
gristle and the stuffing, over the fire in 
enough water to cover it ; cook gently for 
several hours, and then let the soup get cold 
on the bones ; strain it off, skim it, and put 
it back on the fire. Have ready in a sauce- 
pan two cupfuls of milk, thickened with a 
tablespoonf ul of butter and two of flour ; stir 
this into the turkey liquor, boil up, and serve. 

Chocolate Custards. — Four cups milk, four 
eggs, one cup sugar, four tablespoonfuls 
grated chocolate, two teaspoonfuls vanilla. 
Put the chocolate over the fire in a double 
boiler with part of the milk, and let it cook 
until smooth ; add the rest of the milk, and, 
when this is hot, pour it upon the sugar 
mixed with the beaten yolks of the eggs. 
Keturn to the stove, and cook until the cus- 
232 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR WINTER 

tard begins to thicken ; when cool, pour into 
glasses or small cups, and heap on the top 
of each a meringue made of the whites of 
the eggs whipped stiff with a little powdered 
sugar. 

3. 

Oyster Soup. 

Broiled Steak. 

Baked Cabbage. Fried Potatoes. 

Cup Puddings. 

Oyster Soup. — One quart oysters, two cups 
milk, one egg, one tablespoonful butter, pep- 
per and salt to taste. Strain the liquor from 
the oysters, and bring it to the boiling-point 
in one vessel while the milk is heating in an- 
other ; drop the oysters into the scalding 
liquor, and leave them there until they begin 
to crimp. Stir the butter into the milk, and 
pour this upon the beaten egg ; turn this in 
with the oysters ; cook together one minute, 
and serve immediately. Some persons like a 
pinch of ground mace added to oyster soup. 

Baked Cabbage. — Wash and quarter a 
small cabbage ; put it on in plenty of boiling 
water, and let it boil furiously (uncovered) 
233 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEKVE IT 

for twenty minutes. By doing this, and 
having a cup of vinegar on the stove at the 
same time, you do away with the disagree- 
able odor which usually accompanies the 
cooking of cabbage. Drain it when done, 
and chop it fine ; add to it a tablespoonf ul of 
butter, one egg beaten light, a scant half 
cupful of milk, and pepper and salt to taste. 
Bake in a pudding dish to a good brown. 

Cup Puddings. — One cup sugar, two ta- 
blespoonfuls butter, one cup milk, two eggs, 
two cups flour, two small teaspoonfuls bak- 
ing-powder, one saltspoonful salt. Beat the 
yolks of the eggs light, and mix with the 
creamed butter and sugar ; add the milk and 
the flour, mixed well with the salt and bak- 
ing-powder ; bake in small cups or deep pat- 
ty-pans, and serve one to each person. Eat 
with either hard or liquid sauce. 

4. 

Corned-Beef Soup. 

Stewed Rabbits. 

Baked Corn. Fried Sweet Potatoes. 

Plain Fruit Pudding. 

Corned-Beef Soup. — Heat to boiling with a 
234 



FAMILY DINNERS FOE WINTER 

sliced onion three cups of the liquor in which 
a piece of corned-beef was boiled ; just before 
it begins to bubble drop into it the freshly 
broken shell of an egg, boil up once, and 
strain. Put the cleared soup back on the 
fire, and when it boils again add to it two 
cups of milk in which have been dissolved 
two tablespoonfuls of flour ; pour a little of 
this on a beaten egg, and return all to the 
fire for a minute before serving. 

Baked Corn. — Two cups canned corn 
chopped fine, one egg, half-cupful milk, one 
tablespoonful butter, pepper and salt to 
taste. Beat the egg light, stir this and the 
milk into the corn, season, and bake in a 
buttered pudding dish until firm. 

Plain Fruit Pudding. — One cup molas- 
ses, one cup milk, one and a half cups flour, 
quarter-cup seeded raisins, quarter-cup cur- 
rants washed and dried, quarter-cup shred- 
ded citron, one cup suet, one saltspoonful 
salt, one small teaspoonful soda. Chop the 
suet into the flour, first mixing the latter 
with the salt and soda; add the milk and 
molasses, and beat thoroughly ; dredge the 
235 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

fruit and stir it into the pudding ; boil in a 
brown-bread mould two hours and a half. 
Serve hard sauce with it. 

5. 

Roast Duck. 

Canned Green Pease. Boiled Potatoes. 

Lettuce. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Lemon Tarts. 

Canned Green Pease. — Turn the pease 
from the can into a colander; pour over 
them several quarts of cold water, so as to 
rinse the pease thoroughly from the liquor 
in which they were canned ; after this, pour 
as much boiling water over them, and set the 
colander over a pot of boiling water, cover- 
ing the pease; let them steam there until 
heated through, dish, and put on them a 
couple of teaspoonfuls of butter, and pepper 
and salt to taste. 

Lemon Tarts. — Line small patty -pans with 
a good puff paste, and fill them with the 
following mixture : Half - cup butter, one 
cup granulated sugar, three eggs, juice and 
grated rind of a lemon, two tablespoonfuls 
236 



FAMILY DINNERS FOR WINTER 

brandy, nutmeg to taste. Beat the yolks 
into the creamed butter and sugar ; add the 
lemon, spice, brandy, and whites ; bake in a 
steady oven, and eat when cold. 

6. 

Black Bean Soup. 

Halibut Steak. 

Browned Potato. Scalloped Cauliflower. 

Coffee Jelly. 

Black Bean Soup. — Two cups black beans, 
six cups cold water, one onion, two sprays 
parsle}^, four or five cloves, one teaspoonful 
mixed thyme and sweet-marjoram, one quart 
corned-beef liquor. Pick the beans over care- 
fully, wash them, and put them in soak in 
the cold water ; let them stand all night, and 
in the morning transfer them to the soup 
kettle. Put with them the onion, herbs, 
and cloves, and simmer all together gently 
until the beans are soft ; rub them through a 
colander, return to the fire, add the corned- 
beef liquor, and boil for an hour ; pour the 
soup on two hard-boiled eggs, quartered, and 
a few thin slices of lemon, laid in the tureen. 

Scalloped Cauliflower. — Boil the cauli- 
237 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

flower tender ; tie it in a piece of net before 
putting it in the boiling water ; cut the clus- 
ters apart, and arrange them, stems down- 
ward, in a pudding dish ; pour a cup of 
drawn butter over them, season with pepper 
and salt, sprinkle with fine bread or cracker 
crumbs, and bake until of a good brown. 

Coffee Jelly. — Two cups clear strong cof- 
fee, one cup sugar, one cup boiling water, 
half-cup cold water, half-box gelatine. Let 
the gelatine soak in the cold water an hour ; 
stir the sugar into it, and pour over both the 
boiling water and the hot coffee ; strain into 
a mould. When cold, turn out in a glass 
dish, and serve with whipped cream. 
238 



WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 

THE cook-book of the olden time gave its 
recipes with a generous disregard of 
cost. Such items as a ham boiled in wine 
were not unusual, and the quantities of cost- 
ly materials demanded w T ere on a Gargantuan 
scale. Even in the average French culinary 
manuals economy can hardly be said to be 
conspicuous, except by its absence, although 
Gallic cooks have a world-wide reputation 
for the wonderful results they can produce 
by a small expenditure. Even in this day, 
when economy is honored and studied, in 
the recipes that appear in print as written 
by women living in some parts of the South, 
there is a call for what to Northern ideas 
seems a reckless profusion of eggs, butter, 
and cream. The lavishness of these demands 
is often quite out of keeping with the com- 
mon opinion of the straitened circumstances 
supposed to have prevailed of late years in 
239 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

that section of the country. The general 
impression these recipes give was voiced by 
a New England woman, who, after reading 
a collection of recipes from the pen of a well- 
known Southern writer, exclaimed, " Well, I 
can't afford to cook like that ; but I presume 
she has always had plenty to do with." 

In spite, however, of some instances of this 
kind which indicate extravagance, the gen- 
eral trend in culinary guide-books of the day 
is towards economy. Tracts, pamphlets, oc- 
tavos, and quartos are published, giving di- 
rections for preparing a dinner for five per- 
sons at a cost of twenty -five cents, of fifty 
cents, of seventy-five cents, of a dollar. The 
Sunday and weekly newspapers have col- 
umns devoted to the same theme, and the 
countless household magazines with which 
the reading public is almost snow r ed under 
all spare a corner for the discussion of the 
same momentous topic. It may be noted, en 
passcmt, that this sudden interest in dietetics 
is responsible for many of the literary aspira- 
tions now current. Women who had never 
thought of meddling with pen and ink except 

•340 



WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 

in their private correspondence rush into 
print for the purpose of describing a dinner 
which will cost only twenty-seven and two- 
thirds cents, and, encouraged by success in 
one or two efforts of this kind, fondly im- 
agine themselves possessed of talents which 
ought to bring them in a competency. 

Far be it from the woman who has herself 
known housekeeping cares and struggles, 
w r ho has mourned over small leaks and 
sought diligently the best methods of " mak- 
ing sixpence do the work of sevenpence half- 
penny," as an English writer puts it, to de- 
ride any endeavors to teach housekeepers 
how to best use slender means with happy 
results. But a word of warning may not be 
amiss concerning certain features of most of 
the directions thus given. Here it is : If an 
appetizing dish is to be made at small cost, 
care in preparation must supplement cheap 
materials. 

There has been a great deal said and writ- 
ten about the folly of always purchasing the 
best cuts of meat. Hundreds of pages have 
been printed demonstrating satisfactorily — 
1G 241 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

to their authors — that a piece of beef from 
the round can be so cooked as to make it 
equal to filet de bceuf '; that lamb's or pig's 
liver is of as good a flavor as calf's liver, 
which costs twice as much ; that old fowls 
properly treated cannot be distinguished by 
the taste from young broilers ; and that a 
variety of other delightful things can be ac- 
complished by the woman who chooses to 
attempt them. All this is, no doubt, true in 
part. The point that is seldom sufficiently 
emphasized is that it requires to achieve 
these wonders either a certain knack, which 
is as much a talent in its way as is a gift for 
music or drawing, or else a special training 
in this particular kind of cookery. It is easy 
enough for any one to be a good cook who 
knows how to follow a recipe, possesses a lit- 
tle deftness of hand, and is provided with the 
best materials for her work. Nowadays the 
cook-books seldom deal in the glittering gen- 
eralities that once made their pages full of 
pitfalls for the unwary. Usually the direc- 
tions are explicit, the quantities and propor- 
tions almost scientific in their accuracy, and 
242 



WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 

the successive steps in compounding and 
cooking so clearly denned that the wayfar- 
ing woman, although a fool, can hardly go 
very far wrong ; that is, if— and it is a very 
big if, too — she does not have to use imper- 
fect ingredients to compass a perfect achieve- 
ment. Bricks may doubtless be made with 
stubble instead of straw, but the children of 
Israel found it a rather difficult process. 

If, then, to change the figure, the iron be 
dull, one must put to it the more strength. 
The housekeeper who is compelled by cir- 
cumstances to practise rigid economy must 
resolutely set herself to the study of cheap 
cookery. She may know already how to 
roast a " rib cut " of beef, how to broil a por- 
terhouse steak, how to broil and fry tender 
chickens, but all this knowledge is of com- 
paratively little value to her just now. She 
must learn instead how to braise, how to 
treat a " pot roast " ; she must study stews, 
perfect herself in the manufacture of minces, 
hashes, fricassees, croquettes, fritters; she 
must know what vegetables and meats may 
be put together in ultilizing "left-overs"; 
243 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

she must acquire a thorough knowledge of 
soups of all sorts, and of soups maigre in 
particular ; and she must work in this line 
until she is able to set as appetizing if not as 
elegant a table on her small means as her 
richer neighbor across the way can on a 
housekeeping allowance of a double amount. 
Of course this involves a great deal of hard 
work and of competent vigilance. Even if a 
servant is kept, only in rare instances can she 
be trusted to undertake this kind of cookery. 
Simple cookery, like roasting and boiling, is 
seldom successful unless one has the best 
materials to work with. But usually the 
woman who must economize is wealthier in 
time than in anything else, and she must 
make it take the place of money. Above 
all, she must struggle against the temptation 
to yield to weariness or discouragement, and 
to satisfy herself with the custom into which 
so many of her sisters drift, of cooking tough, 
inferior pieces of meat in the easiest way, as 
though they were " prime cuts," and thus en- 
dangering the teeth, tempers, and digestions 
of her family. 

244 



WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 

A potent aid in making cheap cookery 
savory is the judicious use of seasoning. In 
some homes knowledge of these seems to be 
confined to an acquaintance with pepper, 
mustard, onion, and parsley. Little is known 
of the variety of even simple herbs, like 
thyme, sweet-marjoram, and summer-savory ; 
and still less of Worcestershire, Harvey's, 
anchovy, and chilli sauces, of chutney, of 
curry powder, of tarragon vinegar, of bay 
leaves, of maitre (Thotel butter, of olives, of 
tomato and walnut catsups, or of the careful 
employment of spices in small quantities. 
The magical improvement wrought by the 
addition of a little lemon juice and a wine- 
glassful of California sherry (at fifty cents a 
quart bottle) is totally unknown. 

Of course the first outlay for some of these 
commodities may savor of extravagance. 
But many of the articles are very cheap, and 
even the more costly ones are used in such 
small quantities that a supply of any one of 
them will last a long time. Moreover, if a 
woman's aim is to prepare dishes which 
her family will eat and enjoy, she will find 
245 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

that the purchase of condiments pays, and 
the variety their occasional use gives will 
make a change back to simple diet more 
agreeable. 

246 



THE CHILDREN'S TABLE 



IN comparatively few American homes 
does the custom prevail of giving the 
children their meals apart from their parents. 
Domestic arrangements would be sadly com- 
plicated were it common in the ordinary 
household, as it is in England, to have a 
separate breakfast served for the little ones 
in their nursery while the seniors discuss their 
more elaborate morning repast in their own 
salle a manger. 

Usually, and Avisely, American children eat 
at least two of their meals with their par- 
ents, and thus have what benefit may be de- 
rived from association with older people. It 
is only when the father and mother fail to 
guard against letting the little ones gradually 
assume the reins of government that affairs 
reach a point which makes one long to ban- 
ish the babies to the nursery, or even further, 
247 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

if by such means peace might be secured at 
meal-times. 

Nowhere does the spoiled child appear to 
worse advantage, or make more of a nuisance 
of himself, than at the table. His incessant 
chatter, the constant interruption his appeals 
for attention make in the conversation of 
the older people present, his clamorous de- 
mands for any article of food which happens 
to strike his fancy, his loud protests when 
his wishes are denied him, his slovenly (often 
disgusting) habits of eating, make the family 
meal-times a pandemonium and penance to 
the hapless guest upon whom the youngster 
has no claims of affection to render his vaga- 
ries amusing or interesting. 

So long as custom and necessity render it 
advisable to have a child at the same table 
with his parents, these should fix upon a 
plan of action, and adhere to it. Desiring 
to have their children looked upon as com- 
forts and not as spoil-sports, they should en- 
force strict obedience, exact quiet at table, 
and inculcate stringently the once-honored 
maxim — of late years fallen sadly into disuse 
248 



THE CHILDREN 8 TABLE 

and disrepute — that little boys and girls 
should be seen and not heard. Eemember- 
ing how much easier it is to check a habit at 
the outset than to break it off after it is fully 
formed, the father and mother should watch 
their children's table manners, and repress at 
once the carelessness and unpleasant tricks 
that seem, possibly through original sin, -to 
come naturally to most little folk. The 
correct handling of spoon, fork, and knife 
should be taught as soon as they are permit- 
ted to use these implements, and slovenliness 
should be rebuked and held up as a disgrace. 
Not least in importance is it that the father 
and mother should, after due consideration, 
establish an outline of diet for the young- 
sters, and allow no divergence therefrom. 

By " an outline of diet " is not meant an 
unvarying rotation of viands as wearying 
and cle-appetizing to the child as it would be 
to his elders, but a scheme of nourishment 
by which hurtful articles of food will be 
eliminated from the bill of fare, and only 
wholesome ones admitted. A great deal of 
careful thought is often necessary in the for- 
349 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

mulation of such menus, for children have 
as many gastric idiosyncrasies as grown peo- 
ple, and frequently these are only disclosed 
little by little. In illustration of this may be 
cited the case of a handsome, healthy boy 
baby who, although a victim to colic during 
the first months of his life, gave no other 
evidences of eccentricity of digestion until 
he was nearly three years old. At that time 
the mother began to notice that his breath 
was often sour, and that he complained oc- 
casionlly of pain in the stomach and bowels. 
His dietary had always been so simple that 
she was at first puzzled to understand what 
could be the disturbing cause. After sundry 
experiments and careful observation, she 
finally ascertained that the discomfort and 
bad breath followed any unusual eating of 
sweets, although it might be only such sim- 
ple desserts as bread and syrup, bread and 
jelly, plain cookies, or home-made sponge- 
cake, or even an infrequent lump of sugar. 
She put an embargo upon sweets, and 
found an almost immediate improvement. 
Further investigation demonstrated that an 
250 



occasional indulgence — say once a day — pro- 
duced no evil consequences, but that more 
frequent treats of this sort had painful 
sequelce. Her course thereafter was plain 
and easily followed. 

A child's breakfast should always begin 
with some cereal, but this need not invari- 
ably be oatmeal. Other preparations often 
agree better with the children, and a variety 
is preferable to the monotonous use of the 
one kind of porridge. Gruels or porridges 
of farina, corn-starch, rice -flour, corn -meal, 
hominy, arrowroot, wheat-germ meal, or ce- 
realine are nearly all relished by the babies, 
and should be accompanied by milk in any 
amount, but no sugar. If the child has never 
been accustomed to the latter, he will eat 
quite as heartily without it. 

If the porridge is properly prepared, the 
little ones will usually make their chief 
breakfast from it, with milk or milk-and-wa- 
ter as a beverage. Tea, coffee, or chocolate 
should be tabooed. The children are better 
off without any of the three, although some 
mild preparation of cocoa is probably the 
251 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

least harmful drink they can have other than 
milk or cold — not iced — water. 

As the little people grow older they may 
have a second course of baked or stewed po- 
tato, buttered, dry, or milk toast, a soft-boiled 
or poached egg, bread and butter, bread and 
jam, or a little fruit, either fresh or stewed. 
When they have once become accustomed to 
seeing older people eating food which is re- 
fused them, they will take the denial of cer- 
tain articles as a matter of course, and rarely 
think of entering a protest. They will learn 
that hot bread and griddle-cakes are not 
meant for little boys and girls, and will take 
abstinence from meat at breakfast or in the 
evening, and fried foods or rich desserts at 
all times, as a matter of course. 

At noon, which should be their dinner- 
time, a more varied diet is permissible. Then 
there may be soup and some kind of meat for 
the older children — chicken, rare roast beef, 
boiled or roast mutton, a piece of steak or a 
chop — stews entirely freed from grease, po- 
tatoes, sweet or white, or some other vege- 
table, and a plain dessert. It is very little 
252 



additional trouble to so regulate the bill of 
fare that what makes the lunch of the 
"grown-up" may embrace certain articles 
that will suit the childish stomachs ; or there 
may be a little soup reserved from the din- 
ner of the evening before, a dish of some 
carefully warmed-over vegetable, possibly a 
little of last night's meat prepared in a mince 
or stew, which will obviate the necessity of 
cooking fresh food for the easily pleased 
little ones. Often bread and apple -sauce, 
stewed fruit, or a small portion of fruit jelly 
or marmalade is as acceptable a dessert as 
can be provided. 

Having eaten these two meals with the 
family, it is as well to let the younglings 
have their simple tea by themselves before 
the family dinner. A dish of soft toast, or a 
bowl of bread and milk, or of crackers and 
milk, or of rice and milk, and bread and but- 
ter, are usually all they ought to have so 
soon before their bedtime. They may have 
a side table set in the dining-room, or a tray 
may be carried to them in the nursery, and 
the repast superintended by the mother or 
253 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEKVE IT 

nurse. Sometimes papa will come home in 
time to look in upon bis little folks at their 
final meal, and to help them to settle it after- 
wards by a romp. Knowing no other mode 
of life, the children will rarely think of ques- 
tioning the judgment that sends them to bed 
early after their light supper, instead of per- 
mitting them to sit up to a late, heavy, and 
indigestible course dinner. 
254 



THE FAMILY TEA 

A PLEASANT feature of domestic life 
which is done away with by the late din- 
ner is the family tea. This meal, always an 
informal one, used to give play to the house- 
keeper's fancy in the concoction of dainty 
dishes with which to render the repast more 
appetizing to the tired and hungry master of 
the home. Now, to be sure, she has lunches 
upon which to expend her culinary ingenuity ; 
but then the person for whom she best loves 
to cater, her husband, is rarely at home. 

In some families it is the custom to have 
tea one night in the week. It may be on 
Saturday, when there is no school and the 
children can all be at home to an early din- 
ner, or on Sunday, when many people dine 
in the middle of the clay. Still other house- 
holds prefer a noon dinner and a simple tea 
in summer, pleading the advantage of get- 
255 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

ting the heavy cookery out of the way in the 
morning, instead of being obliged to stand 
over a cook-stove through the long blazing 
afternoon. 

In one way or another, then, there are few 
families where the tea-table is not spread at 
least once a week, while in many homes it 
is a daily institution. It only ceases to be 
delightful when it is, through carelessness, 
allowed to slip into a groove, and when the 
suggestion of making it attractive is put 
aside with the excuse, " Oh, anything will do 
for tea !" 

Some years ago a party of city people 
spent a charming summer in a farm-house 
high up among the Berkshire hills. The ac- 
commodations of the roomy old-fashioned 
dwelling were good, the breakfasts and din- 
ners excellent, well cooked, and liberal in 
provision. But the teas ! Night after night 
the guests gathered about a tea-table 
adorned with plates of cold bread, of butter, 
and of cake, pitchers of milk, and occasion- 
ally a dish of berries or of stewed fruit. Tea 
there was, as a matter of course, but never a 
256 



THE FAMILY TEA 

bit of meat or fish, or an egg in any form, 
boiled, poached, or in an omelet ; not even a 
pat of pot-cheese or a few slices of dairy 
cheese. Warm biscuit, muffins, and waffles 
were likewise conspicuous by their absence. 

It was all very well for those who ate 
bread and milk and Avere fond of cake, but 
for a party of ravenous young people, who 
had spent a long afternoon playing tennis, 
.fishing or driving, or tramping over the hills 
in the hunger-provoking air, the sight of the 
table was not inspiriting ; nor did it become 
more popular as the season advanced and the 
early frosty evenings improved appetites 
that had never been poor. Yet, in spite of 
loudly expressed hints, it never seemed to 
occur to the farmer's good wife that her tea- 
table was not supplied with every viand the 
most exacting eater could desire. 

Naturally, when a hearty meal has been 
served in the middle of the day, there should 
be no thought of having to prepare a second 
dinner for the evening. But there should be, 
at least, some relish to vary the monotony of 
plain bread and butter, something to give the 
17 257 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SEEVE IT 

meal an aspect other than that of a perfunc- 
tory "feed," where every one eats on the 
principle upon which Nicholas Nickleby 
" distended his stomach with a bowl of por- 
ridge" the morning after his arrival at 
Dotheboys Hall — not that he wanted it 
then, but lest he should be inconveniently 
hungry when there was nothing to eat. 

There are many delicious supper dishes 
which are made with little difficulty. In 
winter, oysters, clams, scallops, broiled ham, 
fried, broiled, or stewed chicken, chicken 
scallop or mince, sausages, bacon and eggs, 
with any of the large varieties of griddle- 
cakes or warm breads, will make a meal to 
satisfy any one ; while in summer, salads of 
eggs, fish ^ lobsters, chicken, cold lamb or 
veal, shrimp, cheese, beet leaves, lettuce, 
cabbage, potato, string-beans, and of many 
other kinds, may be relied upon. Omelets 
and other preparations of eggs are inexpen- 
sive, easily cooked, and generally popular, 
while cold meat goes well on a summer 
evening, especially when accompanied by 
bannocks, scones, butter-cakes, toasted crack- 
258 



THE FAMILY TEA 

ers, wafers, or some light bread that is easily 
made and not hard to digest. Then there 
are galantines, potted meats, jellied fish, 
pickled salmon, cottage-cheese, and numer- 
ous other little delicacies that are not costly 
and yet are good. 

The table for tea should be set much as it 
is for breakfast, with the exception of the 
oatmeal sets. All the dishes may be placed 
upon the table at once, as they would be at 
lunch, and the family may do much of the 
passing of plates. The tea is served with 
the first course, and the cups and tray may 
be removed to make room for the dish of 
fruit or simple sweets that generally con- 
cludes the meal. The saucers in which these 
are served should stand on plates, on which 
each guest may lay the cake which is usually 
passed at the same time. Hot puddings are 
out of place at tea, but instead there may be, 
in winter, apple-sauce, stewed primes, pre- 
served ginger, brandied and preserved 
peaches, pears or plums, jams or marma- 
lades, custards, blanc-manges, jellies, or any- 
thing of that sort; while in summer it is 
259 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

rarely impossible to procure berries of some 
kind, or other fruit. A dish of " bonny- 
clabber" — better known, perhaps, as "lop- 
pered milk " — of junket, or of syllabub is al- 
ways delicious, and is usually easily obtained 
where milk and cream are plentiful. 

No domestic sight is pleasanter in its way 
than a tea-table on a cold winter night, 
spread with a bright cloth and set out with 
dainty china and shining silver, and with all 
the cheer-inspiring appurtenances of the tea- 
tray ; with the plate of hot bread, the savory 
dish of hot meat, and the little relishes that 
housekeepers know well how to supply. 
And in summer its counterpart is seen in the 
table laid in the room brightened by the 
level sun's rays, where a crisp salad, piles of 
white and brown bread, and a plate of rusk 
or tea-biscuit, pitchers of milk, and a dish of 
berries with cream in abundance revive the 
fainting appetites and spirits of those who 
have borne the heat and burden of the day. 

In summer a tea on the lawn is an agree- 
able variety to introduce occasionally. A 
medium-sized table may be carried out under 

260 



THE FAMILY TEA 

the trees, and spread with a white cloth. 
On this are placed the principal dishes — the 
bread-and-butter, which may sometimes have 
its place taken by sandwiches ; the salad or 
cold meat, or both ; the cake and fruit. The 
tea-tray and kettle may be here too, or the 
tea may be made in the house. Iced tea and 
coffee make a pleasant change once in a 
while. 

A rug or two may be laid on the grass if 
any of the party have a nervous dread of 
colds, and a few little tables will provide a 
space upon which to rest a cup of tea or a 
glass of milk when the lap is occupied by the 
plate containing the more solid viands. Low 
chairs should stand here and there, and the 
whole scene will present a charmingly festal 
appearance at a trifling outlay of time and 
trouble. 

A certain family who possess a delightful 
country place make their Sunday evening at 
fresco tea one of the pleasantest spots in the 
week. No one is present but the family and 
any guests who may be staying in the house. 
The pretty, simple meal is served out on the 
261 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

grassy lawn, which slopes down to the water. 
When the eating is over, the maid comes 
out, gathers the dishes into a tray, and car- 
ries them back to the house, happy in the 
thought that there is no supper-table to be 
cleared and no dining-room to be brushed up. 
Long after the vestiges of the feast have 
been removed the family sit there, chatting 
pleasantly, watching the sunset and the stars 
coining out or the moon rising. By and by 
some voice begins a hymn, the others take it 
up, and the singing goes on until the early 
bedtime comes, and the party turns towards 
the house with a restful happiness that is 
none the less deep and true because it is hard 
to describe or to analyze. 



AFTERNOON TEA 

AMONG the many English customs which 
• have been introduced into American so- 
ciety there is none that sooner attained a 
widespread popularity than afternoon tea — 
a simple and easy form of entertainment, 
that entailed little expense and less trouble 
upon the hostess, and supplied a long -felt 
want. Soon all over the land teas were the 
rage, and in large cities and small villages 
alike cards were flying about, bearing upon 
them the name of the hostess, and in one cor- 
ner, " Tea at five o'clock " or " Tea from four 
to six," as the case might be. 

With the usual tendency of the citizens of 
this great and glorious country to impress 
upon the fashions borrowed from other na- 
tions the stamp of their own individuality, it 
was not long before the stereotyped tea, 
bread-and-butter, and cake, which had at first 
263 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

made up the menu of these entertainments, 
began to undergo modifications. First, 
chocolate was added, on the plea that many 
people do not care for tea. Bouillon came 
next, and the use of this served as the basis 
of that absurd report, instantly accepted by 
foreigners, that the American young women 
were so fragile in constitution as to be 
obliged to brace themselves up with strong 
beef tea at their receptions, in order to enable 
them to perform their social duties. With 
bouillon came sandwiches ; next appeared 
salad, and after that oysters, croquettes, 
creams, ices, and charlottes followed one an- 
other in rapid succession, until the metamor- 
phosis of the modest tea into the reception, 
with its heavy party supper, was complete. 

Part of this change may be attributed to 
the display and love of competition which 
are numbered among our national character- 
istics. But at least a portion of the blame 
must fall upon the participants in these en- 
tertainments, who, not understanding that a 
tea to be a tea must be simple, did not hesi- 
tate to grumble at the trifling nature of the 
264 



AFTERNOON TEA 

refreshments there offered for their de- 
lectation. 

"I am sick of your afternoon teas!" 
grumbled one lord of creation, when inform- 
ed that the family had just received cards 
to one of these affairs. "I like to go to a 
place where you get something to eat be- 
sides a cup of beef tea and a cracker, or tea 
and bread-and-butter. It isn't the kind of 
supper a hungry man wants when he comes 
from his business. He needs something 
hearty." 

Ignorant and boorish though he was, he 
voiced the sentiment of many of his sex, 
who, owing to the training American society 
has furnished in this respect, consider no 
party a success unless the social enjoyments 
are supplemented by a big " spread." In 
England, where the dinner hour falls later 
than it usually does in this country, the light 
sustenance offered by afternoon tea serves as 
a welcome break in the long stretch which 
intervenes between luncheon and dinner. 
Here a man who has his appetite whetted 
for a six-o'clock repast cares little for a tri- 
265 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

fling refection at five or half after five. It 
only serves to blunt his hunger without sat- 
isfying it. 

Of course, as soon as the tea was merged 
into the virtual equivalent of an evening 
party given in the daytime, its recommenda- 
tion as a cheap and convenient method of 
entertaining one's friends vanished. While 
one merely dropped in for a cup of tea on 
the way home from calls or shopping, a plain 
walking gown or visiting costume was per- 
fectly appropriate. But with the increased 
formality of the tea arose the necessity for 
richer dress, and the afternoon kettle-drum 
became a kind of hetero^eneous-lookino; as- 
sembly, where, at five o'clock in the after- 
noon, some of the women would appear in 
evening gowns, with low necks and short 
sleeves, and some in street suits, while the 
men, of course, wore morning coats ; al- 
though in small towns the sight of men in 
dress suits before six o'clock is an anomaly 
too often witnessed. 

Even apart from the matter of dress, other 
difficulties and complications arose. Per- 

266 



AFTEKNOON TEA 



sons in moderate circumstances who had re- 
joiced at the advent of the tea, because it 
rendered feasible the gratification of their 
hospitable instincts at an outlay within their 
means, shrank back in dismay from this hy- 
brid form of assembly, declaring that it was 
as easy to give a regular evening party, and 
get the credit for that, as it was to receive 
guests in a fashion which assumed simplicity, 
but cost no less than an affair that made 
more show. 

A few women have had the courage to ad- 
here to what was the original design of the 
afternoon tea, and to offer their guests only 
the light refreshments suitable for this form 
of entertaining. To such people the labor 
connected with thus gathering their friends 
about them is a trifling task. The hostess 
sees that her rooms are in their best looks ; 
fills a few vases with fresh flowers, to give a 
festal air ; sets a round-table in her drawing- 
room or library, or in the dining-room, if these 
apartments are en suite / draws up her pret- 
tiest cups and saucers and plates in battle 
array, and invites a few young girls or inti- 
267 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

mate friends to assist her. They wear either 
pretty house costumes or dainty tea gowns. 
For refreshments are provided tea and choco- 
late, possibly bouillon, bread-and-butter or 
tiny sandwiches, and plenty of light cakes. 
The eating is a secondary matter, the raison 
d'etre of the company being the desire for 
pleasant social intercourse in an informal 
fashion. 

The woman who has a regular " at home " 
or a weekly " afternoon tea " during the sea- 
son provides even less. She has tea or cocoa 
— rarely both — bread-and-butter or fancy bis- 
cuit, and cake. The toasted muffins or crum- 
pets and the many tea-cakes dear to the 
British palate are little in vogue here, where 
the dinner hour is almost invariably six or 
half after six. Very few are the houses 
where daily afternoon tea is the rule. 

Numberless pretty adjuncts can be pro- 
cured to contribute to the attractiveness of 
the kettle-drum. The tall crane, with its 
brass, copper, or silver kettle, the daintily 
embroidered tea and tray cloths, the fine 
fringed or hemstitched doilies, the exquisite 
208 



AFTERNOON TEA 



china, the quaint teapot, the cozy, the odd 
dishes for cake and biscuit — all afford oppor- 
tunity for the display of a cultured taste or 
of a quick fancy. Nothing need be very 
costly, but everything must be pretty, and 
in this day the combination of beauty and 
cheapness is by no means difficult or un- 
usual. 

The cards for an afternoon tea bear sim- 
ply the name of the hostess, and that of her 
daughter if the latter is "out," and in the 
corner is written or engraved " Tea " or 
"At Home," and the day and the hour of 
the entertainment. The card of any friend 
who is visiting the hostess, or who entertains 
with her, is enclosed in the same envelope. 
If the invited guest cannot be present, she 
sends her card, by post or by private hand, 
so that it may reach the hostess upon the day 
when she receives. 

Those people who live in the country, or 
who are so fortunate as to possess summer 
places out of town, can give charming out- 
door teas, which far surpass in pleasantness 
anything that can be devised in the city. 

269 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

We Americans live too much in the house, 
and that, too, in a climate which offers great 
facilities for a freer mode of life. A tea on 
a lawn or veranda when the air is full of the 
perfume of flowers and the country is in its 
holiday trim is a delight to all those lucky 
enough to be invited to it. For such a ket- 
tle-drum, iced tea and lemonade or claret- 
cup, sandwiches, and cake may be offered, 
with berries or other fruits when these are 
in season. 

270 



HIGH TEA 

FOR a small company the high tea is an 
excellent form of entertainment. It is 
not suitable for a large assembly, but when 
a limited number of guests have been invited 
to spend the evening in some such recreation 
as card-playing, it is very pleasant to ask 
them first to high tea. Or if the latter part 
of the evening is to be devoted to dancing, a 
chosen few of the guests may be invited to 
tea first, and the remainder requested to 
come later. In that case no supper should 
be offered to the dancers except cake, ices, 
and coffee. 

Should the dining-table be large enough 
to accommodate all the guests bidden to the 
high tea, it may be drawn to the requisite 
length, and all the company seated about it. 
But if, from the limited dimensions of the 
dining-room, or because it better suits the 
fancy of the hostess, small tables are pre- 
271 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

ferred, these may be laid so as to accommo- 
date at each six, or four, or even two, always 
taking care in the last case that the right 
two are placed together. 

If one large table is used, it may be spread 
with either a dinner or a tea cloth. Flowers 
should be in the middle upon a pretty centre- 
piece, and there may be small vases set about 
here and there. Individual bouquets are not 
at all necessary. The places should be ar- 
ranged as usual, with small silver for each 
course, and the usual accompaniments of 
butter-plates — or of bread-and-butter plates 
— salt-cellars, glasses, napkins, etc. If it is 
warm weather, the table may be further 
beautified by the bowls or baskets of fresh 
fruits that are to make part of the dessert, 
and, in winter, dishes of cake, of preserved 
or brandied fruits, etc., may be on the table. 
Should the hostess prefer, however, these 
may be placed on the sideboard, thus allow- 
ing space for the more substantial viands, 
which at a tea are seldom relegated to the 
position on the side-teible that they would 
take at dinner. 

2n 



HIGH TEA 

At the head of the table sits the hostess, 
with the tea-tray in front of her. It by no 
means follows, however, because this repast 
is called a tea that the Chinese herb should 
be en evidence. If the party is composed 
chiefly of young people, the chances are 
strongly in favor of their preference being 
for coffee or chocolate. They may be offered 
their choice of these beverages, which the 
hostess pours out, the servant passing them 
with cream and sugar, that each may add of 
these to suit himself. Eussian tea may pos- 
sibly be offered, but even this is apt to be 
less popular than either chocolate or coffee. 

Should small tables be used, the hostess 
may preside over a tray placed upon one of 
them, or, when it seems more convenient, 
the cups may be filled outside, and passed to 
each with the cream-pitcher and sugar-bowl. 
It saves some delay in serving if there are a 
cream-pitcher and sugar-bowl on each table. 
These little tables may be covered with small 
cloths or large napkins, and need have noth- 
ing else upon them beyond the necessary 
furniture for each place, except, perhaps, a 
18 273 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

vase of flowers. While small tables are 
often admirable as accommodating more 
people with comfort than could be seated at 
a large table, yet the latter gives opportunity 
for a prettier display of floral decoration, 
china, silver, etc., than is afforded by the 
former. 

The bill of fare is easily arranged. There 
are no raw oysters or clams, as at a lunch or 
dinner ; and while bouillon may be provided, 
it is not at all necessary. The meal may be- 
gin with oysters in some form, as fricasseed, 
fried, broiled, steamed, or panned, or in cro- 
quettes. With them are passed bread-and 
butter (brown or graham bread cut thin is 
good with oysters) or rolls. The plates are 
then removed, and the next course brought 
in. This ma} r consist of chicken — broiled or 
fried — or broiled birds, or French chops, and 
of potatoes in some form, as a la parisieime, 
French fried, or hashed with cream and 
browned. Cold tongue or ham is sometimes 
also passed at this time, and warm bread in 
some shape, as French rolls, sally-limn, tea- 
biscuit, rusk, or waffles. The coffee or choc- 
274 



HIGH TEA 

olate is also served at this stage in the pro- 
ceedings. 

After this course comes a salad — lettuce 
and tomato mayonnaise, or chicken, lobster, 
or salmon — fresh plates being served for this, 
as a matter of course. Olives and some fan- 
cy cheese — Brie, Roquefort, or Gorgonzola — 
usually come with the salad. Cheese at this 
stage is strongly recommended by the epi- 
cure ; but it is not essential, except to those 
who hold, in the words of the old doggerel, 
that 

" A dinner (or supper) without cheese 
Is like a kiss without a squeeze." 

The table is now cleared, and the dessert 
brought in. This may be quite simple, as, 
say, preserved or branched fruit with fancy 
cakes ; or it may be more elaborate, and com- 
prise jelly, charlotte-russe, or fresh fruit of 
some kind, and light cakes. Ices are not 
strictly en regie, although no canon of taste 
is seriously offended if they are offered. It 
is better, however, to serve them later in the 
evening. Still, they are not essential even 
then. Finger-bowls set on doilies laid on 
275 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

pretty plates must be passed the last thing 
before the guests quit the table. 

Of course the menu suggested above may 
be altered to suit the season and the taste of 
the entertainer. Lobster or crabs, clams or 
shrimps, may be substituted for the oysters. 
Green pease may accompany chops, or sweet- 
breads may be the principal meat dish of 
the second course. Roast duck, turkey, or 
chicken may be provided if broilers are out 
of season, or birds may be served with a let- 
tuce or celery salad for the third course. 
And when one reflects upon the fancy dishes 
which may be prepared for dessert — the 
blanc-manges, the jellied fruits, the Spanish 
or Bavarian or Hamburg creams, the char- 
lottes of divers kinds, the whips, custards, 
and syllabubs — the only difficulty that arises 
is where to choose. 

A pretty notion is to introduce some unex- 
pected feature into the high tea which will 
appeal to the imaginations of the guests as 
well as to their palates. A little ingenuity 
will suggest some novelty of this sort. The 
literary salad, Avhich has become well known 
276 



HIGH TEA 

in certain localities, may yet be unfamiliar 
in others. This is made by cutting a num- 
ber of slips of paper, writing on each one a 
prose or poetic quotation, and attaching each 
strip to a leaf of pale green tissue-paper, cut 
and crimped into the fashion of a lettuce 
leaf. Different shades of the paper should 
be selected, so that the tints may blend as 
they do in a veritable head of lettuce. These 
leaves are then arranged in a bowl, and at 
some point in the meal, usually just before 
the dessert, the bowl is passed, and each 
guest draws out at random two or three of 
the leaves. The endeavor then is to guess 
the authorship of the different quotations, 
and a prize is usually offered to the one 
who guesses the greatest number correctly. 
The prize may be the bowl or dish in which 
the salad is served. Or. instead of quota- 
tions, conundrums may be written on the 
slips, and puzzling out their answers usually 
affords a great deal of amusement. 

A bright young hostess, who was always 
bubbling over with new and charming ideas, 
hit upon the clever one of having her guests' 
277 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

characters told by chirosophy. She obtained 
a specimen of the handwriting of each of 
those whom she had invited, and sent the 
samples to a specialist, who deduced from 
each an estimate of the characteristics of its 
writer. The verdicts thus obtained were 
enclosed each in an envelope bearing the 
name of the person whose peculiar bias was 
therein described. The envelopes were then 
bound with ribbons, tied, and sealed. One 
was laid at the place of each guest at the 
table, and after providing a fruitful source of 
wonder and comment during the early part 
of the meal, the seals were broken when the 
fruit was passed. Each read aloud the state- 
ment contained in her envelope, and it was 
curious and amusing to observe with what 
accuracy many idiosyncrasies and singular 
traits of disposition had been indicated. 
278 



SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 

I 1ST these clays of theatre and opera parties 
the matter of late suppers assumes more 
importance than it possessed in the time 
when these amusements were less universally 
popular. Upon the occasions when a young 
man escorted his " best girl " to the play or 
the concert, he took her afterwards, as a nat- 
ural sequence, to a restaurant, where they 
partook of some such light refreshment as 
ice-cream, cake, and coffee, this style of sup- 
per being varied sometimes by the introduc- 
tion of oysters in one form or another. But 
when a company of young people go to the 
theatre nowadays, and return afterwards to 
the house of their chaperon or of some other 
member of the party, they are usually hun- 
gry with the healthy appetite that it is no 
longer the foolish fashion to conceal. 

The members of whist clubs, of literary or 
279 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

dramatic circles, of small dancing classes, of 
amateur orchestras, and of a variety of other 
similar social organizations, feel a like desire 
for food after an eveningls busy occupation, 
while even in the family the sensible custom 
is gaining ground of eating something not 
long before retiring — a something which, if 
not equal in extent and weight to the late 
supper of our English cousins, is yet more 
substantial than the caramels and chocolate 
creams with which school-girls, and often 
their seniors, solace the hunger that is apt to 
attack them about bedtime. 

When one gives only an occasional recep- 
tion or evening party it is taken for granted 
that the refreshments will be rather elabo- 
rate in their nature. But when the meetings 
of a club of any sort are of weekly, fort- 
nightly, or even monthly recurrence, the ex- 
pense becomes an object. There may be 
some members of the body to whom the dis- 
bursement of a few dollars more or less is a 
matter of trivial moment, but there is very 
rarely any club of this sort where there are 
not some who would feel seriously the cost 



SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 

of entertaining in a showy fashion. For the 
sake of these weak brothers or sisters, a 
certain amount of consideration should be 
shown, and no display made by the wealthy 
ones which would throw into the shade the 
simpler entertainment which is all many 
can afford to offer. A supper need not be 
poor because it is not costly, but it must 
make up in daintiness and unusualness for 
what it lacks in price. 

A chief object to be sought in planning 
these suppers is to select something which 
can be made ready beforehand, so that the 
hostess can enjoy her evening without being 
handicapped in her pleasure-seeking by the 
thought of possible complications arising in 
the preparation of the supper which may re- 
quire her absence from the room. Unless 
she has a practised cook, she should not at- 
tempt dishes of oysters, or of anything of 
the kind which demands careful supervision 
at the last moment. Instead of this, she 
should content herself with chocolate or 
coffee and bouillon for the hot items of her 
menu, and for the rest take her choice from 

281 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

among the many salads and other cold dishes 
which are generally popular. Cold chicken 
or duck, jellied tongue or fowl, or a really 
fine galantine, or a dish of salad, and rolls or 
sandwiches at discretion, may be chosen. 
For sweets, ices are always excellent if they 
can be procured ; or if not, there are jellies, 
which, with whipped cream and light cakes, 
coffee, or chocolate, are quite enough — in- 
deed, more than enough in many cases. 
Often sandwiches, cake, and coffee are suffi- 
cient; but let the sandwiches be of some- 
thing besides ham and tongue, the cake be 
light and delicious, and the coffee strong and 
clear, and served with whipped cream. 

If hot dishes are indispensable, something 
should be selected like chicken or sweetbread 
pates, or lobster in some form, which will not 
be injured by warming over. Croquettes too, 
if properly prepared, are delicious, but they 
must be soft and creamy inside, not hard like 
sausage balls. 

For the home supper the preparations are 
much simpler. This late repast may consist 
merely of a plate of crackers, or of light bis- 
282 



SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 

cuit, or of bread-and-butter, with perhaps a 
tin of potted meat, or a few sardines, or a 
piece of cheese, or a box of guava jelly, or 
a little f rait. Iced water, or milk and Apol- 
linaris, or Seltzer are the best beverages to 
serve, or, for those who like it, a bottle of 
ale or beer. 

In the hope of aiding housekeepers who 
desire to prepare something a little different 
from the stereotyped suppers so common at 
evening entertainments, and which usually 
consist of oysters, chicken or lobster salad, 
sandwiches, ice-cream, and coffee, there are 
appended a few recipes for dishes perhaps 
less commonly known than those just men- 
tioned. 

Lobster Salmi. — Two cups boiled lobster 
{cut, not chopped, into small pieces), three 
eggs (the yolks only), two tablespoonfuls 
butter, half a pint of cream, one wineglassful 
sherry, one tablespoonful brandy, Cayenne 
pepper and salt to taste, one teaspoonful 
lemon juice. Put the lobster over the fire in 
a double boiler with the butter, wine, brandy, 
pepper, and salt ; let it become smoking hot. 
283 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

It will not injure it to stand covered at the 
back of the stove for some time. Just be- 
fore it is to be served bring the water in the 
outer vessel to the boiling-point, and stir into 
the scalding hot lobster the beaten yolks of 
the eggs and the cream. Let this stand one 
minute longer on the fire, remove, add the 
lemon juice, and serve at once in small silver 
or china shells or in nappies. 

French Fish Salad. — Select some firm 
white-fish (halibut is excellent for this pur- 
pose), and boil. When perfectly cold cut it 
into neat slices ; on each slice lay a sardine, 
and arrange the fish upon and among crisp 
lettuce leaves. Prepare a mayonnaise dress- 
ing, and into a half-pint of it stir three sar- 
dines rubbed smooth with the back of a fork. 
Pass the sauce in a pitcher containing a spoon 
or small ladle, that each guest may help him- 
self. 

Lobster Mayonnaise Sandwiches. — Into 
half a cupful of finely minced lobster stir 
two tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise dressing. 
Season to taste with Cayenne pepper and 
salt, with a little lemon juice if it seems to 
284 



SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 

be needed. Select bread a day old for this 
purpose, butter it light on the loaf, and cut 
verjr thin. Spread a slice with the mixture, 
and lay another buttered slice upon it, face 
downward. Cut into small neat squares or tri- 
angles. The crust is sometimes trimmed off. 
Chicken mayonnaise sandwiches may be 
made in the same way, rejecting all bits of 
skin or gristle, and omitting the lemon juice. 
Ham, tongue, and shrimp mayonnaise sand- 
wiches are also good prepared in similar 
fashion. 

Veal Galantine. — Select a breast of veal 
about eighteen inches long by twelve wide, 
and remove from it all bits of bone or gristle. 
Spread the inside of it with a layer of sausage 
meat, or of salt or corned' pork finely chop- 
ped, and highly seasoned with minced onion, 
parsley, and sweet-herbs. Upon this lay a 
few thin slices of cold boiled ham and tongue 
and several strips of raw veal. Spread 
these with more of the force-meat, taking 
care not to bring it too near the edges, as it 
would then squeeze out when the galantine 
is rolled. Sprinkle chopped herbs and onion 

285 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SEEVE IT 

over the inside, and roll up the piece of veal, 
the force-meat inside. Bind and skewer into 
shape, sew it up in a stout cloth, and place it 
in a pot containing a hock of pork or a 
knuckle of veal well cracked, a bouquet of 
herbs, a sliced onion, a sliced carrot, and two 
or three stalks of celery. Cover all with cold 
water, and let the pot, after coming gradu- 
ally to a boil, simmer at the back of the 
stove for at least four hours. Kemove the pot 
from the fire, and let the galantine become 
cold in the liquor ; then take it out, tighten 
the bandage about it, and place under a 
heavy weight for several hours ; uncover, 
and surround with aspic jelly. To make 
this, clear the liquor in which the galantine 
was cooked by bringing it to a boil with the 
white and crushed shell of a freshly broken 
eo-o-, straining it, as soon as the scum rises to 
the top, through a piece of thick cotton cloth. 
Season a quart of the clear liquid thus left 
with a wineglass of sherry, two tablespoon- 
fuls of vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. 
While boiling hot dissolve in it an ounce of 
gelatine which has been previously soaked in 
286 



SOME HINTS ABOUT SUPPER 

cold water for an hour. Pour a little of the 
jelly into a brick-shaped mould large enough 
to hold the galantine, first wetting the mould 
with cold water, and when the jelly forms 
lay the galantine on this. Pour the remain- 
ing jelly over it, and let it stand in a cold 
place until firm. Turn all out of the mould, 
and serve garnished with lettuce leaves. 
287 



CniNA AND GLASS 

THAT housekeeper must be a noteworthy 
exception to the majority of the mem- 
bers of that honorable body whose heart 
does not yearn to possess a goodly store of 
china and glass. She may begin her mar- 
ried life with the resolve to content herself 
with very little, but she will find, in this form 
of acquisition as in nearly every other, that 
appetite comes with eating, and the more she 
has the more she wants. Curiously enough, 
she learns also that although she may get 
along very comfortably for a long while 
without certain articles, she has not owned 
them a month without reaching a state of 
mind where she cannot understand how she 
ever managed to keep house lacking the new 
possessions. 

In these days a bride is usually pretty well 
supplied with handsome china and glass by 
288 



CHINA AND GLASS 

the friends who send them to her as wedding 
presents. She receives from them at least 
the luxuries of table furniture, if not the ne- 
cessities. Among her gifts she has almost 
always one or more fine cut-glass bowls or 
dishes, and possibly several small bonbon, 
pickle, or olive saucers. An ice-cream set is 
also a favorite gift, and the bride usually re- 
ceives also a set of after-dinner coffee cups 
and saucers and at least a dozen fruit-plates. 
A few young couples are so fortunate as to 
number a complete dinner set among their 
presents ; and they may deem themselves 
lucky indeed, for the cost of this necessary 
purchase makes a big hole in the sum that 
the bride received, or that she has laid aside 
for household plenishing. 

Of course there are some young married 
people to whom money is, so to speak, no 
object, who have but to go to a shop and 
order whatever pleases their fancy. But 
they are few and far between. To most 
newly made housekeepers the filling of their 
china closets must be slow work, and each 
new addition is generally the evidence of a 
19 289 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

bit of economy or good management, or else 
a memento of some Christmas or holiday, 
and all the more valued on that account. 
Even when the proud young manager is be- 
ginning to view with pride the accumulation 
of months, she is sadly liable to find their 
ranks lessened some woful day by one of 
those accidents which will happen so long 
as china and glass are breakable commodi- 
ties. The cheese-dish, the berry-bowl, or the 
cake-plate has come to grief in Bridget's or 
Gretchen's or Dinah's hands. 

" Shure, ma'am, it jist slipped out of me 
hands as I was a-wipin' it," or, " It came in 
two pieces when I put it into the wather. 
Feth an' it must have been cracked before." 

Of course a dish will get broken occasion- 
ally. Once in a w T hile one will go to pieces 
even under the careful touch of the mistress, 
and no hireling can be taught to handle frag- 
ile things as carefully as will their owner. 
A potent aid in inculcating caution is the 
habit of deducting from a servant's wages 
the price of the pieces broken. This rule 
should not be enforced in the case of a real- 
290 



CHINA AND GLASS 

ly careful maid, but only with one who 
shows a decided tendency to heedlessness. 
Even with this penalty there will be chips 
and cracks that will prove almost as great a 
trial to the mistress as a total fracture. To 
the importance of these minor accidents the 
average serving-maid seems serenely uncon- 
scious. 

" Norah, if I treated you as you deserve, I 
would take the value of this out of your 
wages," said a mistress, ruefully contemplat- 
ing a Limoges chocolate pot, from the lip of 
which a triangular fragment had been neatly 
chipped. 

" Indacle, ma'am, an' can't ye use it as 
well as iver ye did ?" Avas the surprised reply. 

Without going as far as one woman, who 
used to declare she would rather have a piece 
of china completely smashed than to see it 
cracked, one may safely say that the good 
housekeeper never perceives even a trifling 
breakage in any piece of her table-ware 
without a real pang at heart. To avert 
these accidents she is wise if she intrusts to 
no hands but her own or those of an excep- 
291 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

tionally careful maid the cleansing of her 
most precious belongings of porcelain and 
crystal. Sometimes, however, a woman's 
other duties are so pressing that she cannot 
spare the time to wash the delicate dishes 
which she prides herself upon having in con- 
stant use, and then she must simply make up 
her mind to be resigned to the losses she 
must sustain if she permits her servants to 
take entire charge of these breakables. 

Without using unsightly stone-ware, it is 
yet possible to procure for every-day service 
pretty crockery that is less easily broken 
than the delicate French china. In purchas- 
ing a dinner set which is to do steady duty, 
the housewife must be guided by prudential 
as well as artistic considerations. She can 
find what is known as the English Dresden 
and one or two other kinds of china which 
combine pretty designs with durability of 
material, and are not very expensive. 

Often there are included in a dinner set a 

lull dozen each of tea, breakfast coffee, and 

after-dinner coffee cups ; and sometimes the 

set can be purchased to greater advantage by 

292 



CHINA AND GLASS 

taking them all. Frequently, too, the dealer 
will not break the set. Unless either or both 
of these conditions should prevail, there is 
little gain for the housekeeper in taking the 
whole set. Usually she already has a fair 
number of cups and saucers, and in any case 
she would not need as many as the set com- 
prises. By a little search it is often prac- 
ticable to pick up a broken set, consisting 
of a certain number of plates, vegetable and 
meat dishes, and in this day there is no ob- 
ligation upon one to have everything to 
match. The principal pieces should be alike, 
if possible ; but the fish, salad, dessert, and 
fruit plates may all be of different designs, 
and be none the worse on that account. 

Her dinner dishes purchased, the young 
mistress may congratulate herself. There is 
no other equally heavy pull ahead of her in 
the line of china. Now she may at her lei- 
sure pick up her pretty harlequin set of cups 
and saucers, her dessert dishes, her large 
cake and bread plates, and her small bread 
and butter plates, her fish set, her chocolate- 
pot, her bouillon-cups, her nappies, her indi- 
293 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

vidual dishes for shirred eggs, for scalloped 
fish, oysters, or chicken, and the dozen of 
other dainty fancies with which the china 
shops are crowded. Her accumulations will 
be all the dearer to her because many of 
them have been procured at the cost of a lit- 
tle personal sacrifice. 

When one begins to price cut glass she is 
generally wofully discouraged. The cost of 
the plainest cut is very high if the glass is 
heavy, and a little experience soon teaches 
the housekeeper that it is very poor economy 
to buy the thin glass for every-day use. It 
will often break in washing in spite of the 
most careful handling, and a slight blow to 
it means fracture. Now that pressed glass 
comes in such pretty patterns, it may be 
made to do duty for common use, and is so 
attractive that no one need be ashamed to 
put it on her table. 

" You should see my new glass dish," said 
a young housekeeper, gleefully. "It cost 
me just seventy-nine cents, and when you 
set it on handsome damask it looks like the 
real cut. Of course you can't put two cheap 
294 



CHINA AND GLASS 

things together, but my table-cloths are all 
so good that I can afford to set a few imita- 
tions on them." 

The advantages of this heavy glass are 
seen less in the dishes, large and small, than 
in the goblets or tumblers that are in daily 
use. Here the havoc is dreadful when the 
glass is of the egg-shell species. Cheap 
though it often is, it does not pay to pur- 
chase it when its destruction is merely a 
question of a few days or weeks. 
295 



LINEN AND SILVER 

EYEN at the best, securing a provision of 
table linen is bound to be a heavy ex- 
pense. Whatever economies the housekeep- 
er may practise by purchasing Japanese or 
stout English porcelain, and pressed glass, she 
will never find that it pa}^s to buy cheap 
damask. It does not look well even at the 
first, and it is worse after each washing. No 
matter how handsome may be the china, sil- 
ver, and glass put upon it, a sleazy damask 
will give a cheap appearance to the whole 
table. 

On the other hand, really good linen pays 
by its wearing qualities for the original out- 
lay. If it is not allowed to become so dirty 
before it is washed that hard rubbing is re- 
quired to make it clean, it will last for years. 
The first tiny breaks must be carefully 
watched for and repaired at once. By such 

296 



LINEN AND SILVER 

precautions even a cloth which is in daily 
service may be made to last several years. 
Above all, no washing-soda, no bleaching 
preparation of any kind, must ever be used 
upon it. It may whiten the linen at first, 
but the small holes with which the damask 
will soon be riddled will tell more plainly 
than words the harm the fabric has sustained 
from the alkali. Should the linen become 
yellow, it may be whitened by being laid on 
the grass in the dew or rain first, and after- 
wards in the sunshine. 

Linen should never be put away damp, as 
it is almost certain to mildew. These spots 
may sometimes be removed or lessened by 
boiling the stained linen in buttermilk, or by 
the use of Javelle water, but it is a difficult 
and doubtful task. 

A young housekeeper does not need a 
large supply of table linen at the beginning 
of her career. Of course it is very delight- 
ful to her to feel that her sideboard drawers 
are so thoroughly stocked that they will not 
need to be replenished for years to come ; 
and if she has had a long engagement in 
297 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

which to make her preparations, or if she has 
followed the wise old-fashioned custom of 
beginning a linen chest while yet a young 
girl, she may be able to rejoice in a generous 
assortment of table-cloths, napkins, and doi- 
lies. Or possibly some kindly relative or 
friend has given her a check to be expended 
in this fashion ; or she may have a wealthy 
father whose liberality relieves her from the 
necessity of economizing in this direction. 

Taking it for granted, however, that every 
dollar counts, the young wife must consider 
seriously just what she will need. If she ex- 
pects to entertain a good deal of company, 
she will have to lay in a large supply of 
linen. Bat if she intends to live in compara- 
tive quiet, not giving many luncheons or din- 
ner parties, even although always ready to 
receive her own or her husband's friends, 
she will find that she can manage comfort- 
ably without a large quantity of napery. In 
a family where there are few children, and 
where ordinary care is observed, it is quite 
practicable, barring accidents, to get along 
easily with but one white table-cloth a week. 
298 



LINEN AND SILVER 

In this case, of course, a colored cloth must 
be used for breakfast and lunch or for break- 
fast and tea. If the bare table is used at 
lunch, the housekeeper may manage to make 
shift with one breakfast cloth, with the ac- 
companying dozen napkins. If she can pos- 
sibly afford it, however, she should buy two 
colored cloths and two dozen colored nap- 
kins. For dinner use she must provide two 
white cloths with the napkins to match. 
These cloths may be about two and a quar- 
ter or two and a half yards long. Besides 
these, she should have one handsomer white 
cloth a little longer, to use when she wishes 
to entertain several guests. There is no rea- 
son in her purchasing the long table-cloths 
that range from twelve to sixteen feet in 
length, unless she has a very large dining- 
room and anticipates an occasional family 
party, which will oblige her to use the table 
in its most extended form. 

To buy table-cloth damask by the yard is 

cheaper than to purchase the cloth in one 

piece. The designs are often very pretty, 

but the separate cloth is usually more satis- 

299 



WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT 

factory. Large flaring patterns are out of 
place on a small table. Such designs as the 
old and always pleasing snow-drop pattern, 
or a little block or diamond, or ivy or fern 
leaves, or small stars or shells, one does not 
weary of so soon as of something more 
showy. It is not worth while to purchase a 
cloth chiefly on account of its attractive bor- 
der, for this is seldom seen. The centre fig- 
ures are those which receive the most atten- 
tion. 

In doing up table-cloths there should al- 
ways be a suspicion of starch used, but there 
should be none in the napkins. 

With the provision of table-linen described 
above and a set of fruit napkins, the house- 
keeper will be able to manage very easily. 
Of course she will desire tray cloths, side- 
board covers, centre-pieces, doilies, and the 
like, but these may be made by her own fin- 
gers. The costliness of these consists in the 
work bestowed upon them, and they can be 
made at home for half or less than half the 
price asked for them in the shops. By work- 
ing them herself play is given to the inge- 
300 



LINEN AND SILVER 

nuity of her fancy, and she may have the 
pleasure of knowing that she has some- 
thing different from what every one else can 
buy. 

The housewife can hardly have too many 
doilies. Not only are they useful to put un- 
der finger-bowls, and to lay on cake and 
bread plates, but they are admirable to place 
under hot dishes, to lay between a scallop- 
shell and the plate, under pates, etc. And 
when the home mistress has enough of these, 
she may set to work to provide herself with 
carving-cloths, corn and biscuit napkins, and 
the many other pretty pieces of table linen 
that are always in demand. 

There is very seldom a bride who does not 
receive enough small silver, such as forks and 
spoons, to supply her own table. If she is 
not so fortunate, however, she should, if pos- 
sible, try to buy solid silver, even if she can 
afford to get but half a dozen pieces of each 
kind. Should this be beyond her means, she 
will find plated silver in neat designs, al- 
though it will in time wear out, while the 
solid silver will last a lifetime or longer. It 
301 



WHAT TO EAT HOW TO SERVE IT 

never pays to buy thin silver, for this bends 
and dents easily. 

Some people who own solid small silver 
lock it up except upon rare occasions, and 
use only plated ware when cnfamitte, affirm- 
ing that the peace of mind thus gained is 
worth more than the luxury of using real 
silver. In this matter every one must judge 
for herself; but if a vote were taken the 
chances are that those who use the solid sil- 
ver would testify that its care costs them very 
little time or thought. The simple expedient 
of counting it two or three times a week is 
generally sufficient to insure its safety, and 
the duty of carrying it up-stairs at night is 
too trifling to deserve mention. 

Those who have ever been so fortunate as 
to possess plated silver vegetable dishes or a 
soup tureen w T ould never willingly use those 
of china. Not only do the silver vessels 
keep their contents hot, but they are not 
breakable, and a dent may be remedied at a 
small cost. They are not hard to keep clean. 
A plunge into clean scalding water, and a 
quick wiping afterwards, whenever they have 



LINEN AND 8ILVEK 

been used, with an occasional rubbing with a 
piece of flannel or chamois-skin, will gener- 
ally keep them bright. 

Whenever silver, solid or plated, needs a 
thorough cleaning, electro-silicon may be 
used ; and after the scouring has been done 
with a brush dipped in the powder, the 
pieces should be rinsed off in scalding water 
containing a little ammonia, and well rubbed 
with flannel. Even the most tarnished silver 
may be brightened by this means. 
303 



INDEX 



Anchovy toast, 138. 
Apples and bacon, 81. 
Apples, meringued, 227. 
Apricot fritters, 211. 
Asparagus biscuit, 144. 
Asparagus with eggs, 213. 

Baked mince, 52. 
Bananas, baked, 1 30. 
Bananas, fried, 211. 
Beef d la mode, 219. 
Beef, crisped smoked, 55. 
Biscuit, breakfast, 84. 
Biscuit, brown, 56. 
Biscuit, cheese, 136. 
Biscuit, lunch, 133. 
Biscuit, quick, 64. 
Biscuit, rye, 148. 
Bread, Boston brown, 54, 141. 
Bread, fried, 152. 
Bread, hot loaf, 134. 
Bread omelet, 55. 
Bread, rice, 131. 
Bread-and-butter, 130. 
Breakfast cloth, 19. 
Breakfast mats, 20. 
Breakfast menu, 44. 
Breakfast, wedding, 46. 
Brewis, 52. 

20 



Broth, mutton and rice, 207- 
Brown Betty, peach, 205. 
Brown-bread toast, 150. 
Butter cakes, 65. 

Cabbage, baked, 233. 
Cake, hot, 152. 
Cake, orange, 160. 
Cakes, bread-and-milk, 85. 
Cakes, butter, 65. 
Cakes, lunch, 162. 
Cakes, rice, 156. 
Candles, 8. 

Cauliflower, scalloped, 23*7. 
Caviare toast, 134. 
Cereal ine fritters, 153. 
Cerealine, moulded, 59. 
Cheese biscuit, 136. 
Cherry dumplings, 214. 
Chicken, deviled, 140. 
Chicken, jellied, 159. 
Chicken mince, 60. 
Chicken pie, cold, 149. 
China, buying, 292, 293. 
Chowder, fish, 214. 
Cocoa, 90. 

Cod, creamed with potatoes, 50. 
Cod, scalloped, 135. 
Cold slaw, 158. 
305 



INDEX 



Company dinner, menu, 192, 

193. 
Corn, baked, 235. 
Corn, boiled, 145. 
Corn-bread, boiled, 145. 
'Corn-bread, loaf, 81. 
Corn croquettes, 144. 
Corn-meal gems, 67. 
Crullers, quick, 154. 
Crumpets, 79. 
Crumpets, rice, 140. 
Cucumbers, fried, 219. 
Custards, chocolate, 232. 
Custards, cocoanut, 223. 
Cut glass, 294. 

Desserts, Sunday, 186. 
Diet for children, 249. 
Dining-room draperies, 6. 
Dining-room floor, 5. 
Dining-room furniture, 11, 12, 

13. 
Dining-room walls, 4. 
Dinner-cloth, 167. 
Dinner toilette, 171. 
Doilies, 301. 
Dumplings, cherry, 214. 

Egg-plant, fried, 222. 

Egg-plant, stuffed, 228. 

Eggs d la crime, 139. 

Eggs, curried, 54. 

Eggs, moulded, 83. 

Eggs, poached, with anchovy 
toast, 141. 

Eggs, scrambled, with aspara- 
gus, 136. 

Eggs, timbales, with cheese, 
75. 



Fish, left-over, 155. 



Fish-cakes, dropped, 72. 
Fritters, clam, 74. 
Fritters, green-corn, 61. 
Furniture polish, 89. 

Galantine, veal, 285. 
Gems, corn-meal, 67. 
Gems, Graham, 53. 
Gems, oatmeal, 135. 
Gems, rye, 59. 
Gems, wheat-flour, 73. 
Gingerbread, 150. 
Griddle-cakes, corn-meal, 151. 
Griddle-cakes, simple, 73. 

Ham, barbecued, 65. 
Ham, deviled, 148. 
Ham fritters, 129. 
Ham toast, 48. 
Hash, a scrap, 131. 
Hash, turkey, 158. 
Hominy croquettes, 1 60. 

Invalids' food, 38. 

Jelly, coffee, 238. 
Jelly toast, 14S. 
Jumbles, 164. 

Kidneys, stewed, 153. 

Lamb, stewed, d la Jardiniere, 

224. 
Lawn teas, 260, 269. 
Left-overs, 93. 
Lemon tarts, 236. 
Lettuce, 212. 
Light loaf, 83. 
Liver toast, 132. 
Lobster, creamed, 155. 
Lobster croquettes, 136. 



306 



INDEX 



Lobster mayonnaise sand- 
wiches, 284. 

Lobster salmi, 283. 

Luncheon menu, 100, 110, 
111. 

Macaroons, 158. 
Mackerel, salt, broiled, 61. 
Mackerel, salt, broiled, d la 

maitre cVhotcl, 82. 
Mackerel, soused, 71. 
Mayonnaise dressing, 138. 
Meat loaf, 151. 
Menu for high tea, 274, 275. 
Muffins, batter, 161. 
Muffins, corn, 50. 
Muffins, English, 74. 
Muffins, feather, 52. 
Muffins, griddle, 51. 
Muffin?, hasty, 75. 
Muffins, nursery, 163. 
Muffins, plain, 154. 
Muffins, raised, 152. 
Muffins, raised corn-meal, 147. 
Muffins, rice, 54. 
Muffins, risen, 82. 
Muffins, rye, 78. 
Muffins, sour milk, 80. 
Muffins, toasted, 160. 
Mutton, boiled, 206. 
Mutton, deviled, 134. 
Mutton, minced, with poached 

eggs, 70. 

Omelet, baked, 63. 

Omelet, baked chicken, 144. 

Omelet, baked with cheese, 

128. 
Omelet, bread, 55. 
Omelet, parsley, 49. 
Omelet with coin, 66. 



Onions, browned, 230. 
Orange cake, 160. 
Orange roly-poly, 231. 
Oysters, curried, 157. 
Oysters, panned, 133. 

Pancakes, canned pea, 83. 
Parsnips, creamed, 208. 
Pate, game, 141. 
Peach Brown Betty, 205. 
Pease, canned French, 212. 
Pease, canned green, 236. 
Pickerel, fried, 142. 
Pie, sliced peach, 224. * v 
Pigeons, stewed, 211. 
Pop-overs, Graham, 62. 
Porridge, 25. 
Potato balls, 71. 
Potato, moulded, 75. 
Potato puree, 226. 
Potatoes an gratin, 154. 
Potatoes, buttered, 50. 
Potatoes, hashed, 86. 
Potatoes hashed with cream, 

69. 
Potatoes, Lyonnaise, 76. 
Potatoes, Parisian, 62. 
Potatoes, savory, 85. 
Potatoes, sliced, 148. 
Potatoes, stuffed, 67. 
Pudding, baked peach, 220. 
Pudding, cream rice, 229. 
Pudding, peach and tapioca, 

227. 
Pudding, plain fruit, 235. 
Pudding, raspberry, 216. 
Pudding, rice and pear, 226. 
Puddings, cup, 204. 



Rapid eating, 174. 
Rice bread, 131. 



307 



INDEX 



Rice cakes, 156. 
Rice croquettes, 15V. 
Rusk, 132. 
Rye geins, 59. 

Salad, 171. 

Salad, asparagus, 210. 

Salad, celery and radish, 142. 

Salad, chicken, 138. 

Salad, egg, 145. 

Salad, French fish, 284. 

Salad, literary, 270. 

Salad, potato, 150. 

Sally-Lunn, quick, 69. 

Sally-Lunn, raised, 62. 

Sandwiches, 125, 126, 285. 

Sandwiches, lobster mayon- 
naise, 284. 

Sardines au gratin, 62. 

Sardines, broiled, on toast, 
162. 

Sauce, cream, 62. 

Sauce, hard, 205. 

Sauce, mint, 218. 

Sauce, soubise, 206. 

Sauce, white, 60. 

Sausage, baked, 161. 

Sausage, broiled, 73. 

Sausage rolls, 78. 

Scallop patties, 53. 

Scallops, fried, 86. 

Seasoning, 245. 

Setting breakfast-table, 42. 

Setting dinner-table, 168. 

Shad roes in ambush, 59. 

Short -cake, canned peach, 
150. 

Short-cake, peach, 64. 

Short-cake, raspberry, 56. 

Silver, cleaning, 303. 

Silver, solid, 301. 



Silver-plated dishes, 302. 

Soup, 171. 

Soup, asparagus, 216. 

Soup, black-bean, 237. 

Soup, canned, 183. 

Soup, cauliflower, 221. 

Soup, cheese, 218. 

Soup, corned-beef, 234. 

Soup, egg, 217. 

Soup, green-corn, 210. 

Soup, green-pea, 213. 

Soup, lentil, 204. 

Soup, oyster, 233. 

Soup, salmon, 228. 

Soup, tomato, maigre, 225. 

Soup, turkey, 232. 

Soup, veal, 223. 

Spaghetti, creamed, 209. 

Spanish chestnuts, roast, 15G. 

Sponge-cake trifle, 208. 

Standing lunch menu, 118. 

Steak, broiled, with mush- 
rooms, 72. 

Strawberries, 58. 

Strawberry meringue, 215. 

Sugar cakes, 163. 

Supper dishes, 258. 

Sweetbread pates, 147. 

Sweet potatoes, buttered, 
205. 

Table linen, 297, 298. 
Table manners, 248. 
Tomatoes, baked, 209. 
Tomatoes, broiled, 140. 
Tomatoes, deviled, 66. 
Tomatoes and corn, baked, 

222. 
Tongue, jellied, 142. 
Tripe, Lvonnaise, 85. 
Turnip puree, 230. 



308 



INDEX 



Veal croquettes, 79. 

Veal cutlets au maitrc <T hotel, 

69. 
Veal galantine, 285. 
Veal Hamburg steaks, 

163 



Waffles, quick, 71. 
Waffles, raised, 162. 
Welsh rabbit, 145. 
Wheat-flour gems, 73. 
Wheat puffs, 76. 
White-fish, baked, 225. 



309 



THE END. 



BOOKS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD, 



PRACTICAL COOKING AND DINNER GIVING. 

A Treatise containing Practical Instructions in Cook- 
ing ; in the Combination and Serving of Dishes, and 
in the Fashionable Modes of Entertaining at Break- 
fast, Lunch, and Dinner. By Mary F. Henderson. 
Illustrated. 12ino, Water-proof Cover, $1 50. 

DIET FOR THE SICK. A Treatise on the Values 
of Foods, their Application to Special Conditions of 
Health and Disease, and on the Best Methods of their 
Preparation. By Mary F. Henderson. Illustrated. 
12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 

FAMILY LIVING ON $500 A YEAR. A Daily 
Reference Book for Young and Inexperienced House- 
wives. By Juliet Corson. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. 

WHAT TO EAT — HOW TO SERVE IT. By 

Christine Teriiune Herrick. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

HOUSE-KEEPING MADE EASY. By Christine 
Terhune Herrick. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

CRADLE AND NURSERY. By Christine Ter- 
hune Herrick. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

CHOICE COOKERY. By Catherine Owen. 16mo, 

Cloth, $1 00. 

MAN AND HIS MALADIES ; or, The Way to Health. 
A Popular Hand book of Physiology and Domestic 
Medicine in Accord with with the Advance in Medi- 
cal Science. By A. E. Bridger, B.A., M.D., &c. 
12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 



Books for the Household. 



DELICATE FEASTING. By Theodore Child. 

Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 25. 

VIRGINIA COOKERY-BOOK. By Mary Stuart 
SMiTn. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50 ; 4to, Paper, 25 cents. 

BAZAR COOKING RECEIPTS. Cooking Receipts 
from Harper's Bazar. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents ; Cloth, 
40 cents. 

BEAUTY IN DRESS. By Miss Oakey. 16mo, Cloth, 

$1 00. 

BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. By Mrs. T. W. 
Dewing, Author of " Beauty in Dress." Illustrated. 
16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

OUNCES OF PREVENTION. By Titus Munson 
Coan, M.D. 12mo, Paper, 25 cents ; Cloth, 50 cents. 

THE UNRIVALLED COOK-BOOK and House-keep- 
er's Guide. By Mrs. Washington. 12mo, Water- 
proof Cover, $2 00. 

THE BAZAR BOOKS: The Bazar Book of Health.— 
The Bazar Book of Decorum. — The Bazar Book of 
the Household. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00 each. 

HINTS TO WOMEN ON THE CARE OF PROP- 
ERTY. By Alfred Walker. 32mo, Paper, 20 
cents ; Cloth, 35 cents. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

jOST A ny of the above, works ivill be sent, postage prepaid, to any part 
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MISS COIISON'S FAMILY LIVING ON 
$500 A YEAH. 

Family Living on $500 a Year. A Daily Reference 
Book for Young and Inexperienced Housewives. 
By Juliet Corson. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. 

If we ever get as much as $500 a year we shall purchase 
this book and live like a prince. ... It goes carefully through 
the expenses of daily living, and indicates the thousand and 
one ways in which a penny can be saved and another penny 
put where it will do most good. A book of this kind placed 
in the hands of those who have very limited means will show- 
that they can live very comfortably and have quite enough 
to eat on a very small sum. — JV". Y. Herald. 

It is a helpful working book, sensible and practical, and 
tells how to buy, cook, and serve all sorts of food ; how to 
can, pickle, and preserve ; and how to arrange and serve 
luncheons, dinners, and teas, all in the most economical man- 
ner consistent with appetizing results. — Sunday-School Times, 
Philadelphia. 

Food-economist, cook-book, and instructor in table service 
all in one. . . . The book is a capital one, and every house- 
keeper should feel grateful to the able and painstaking au- 
thor. — A T . Y. Post. 

The production of a lady who understands her subject 
thoroughly, and who earnestly wishes to help others towards 
the same useful knowledge. ... A book of this sort (and 
Miss Corson is the best able to produce it of any one we 
know) is a great aid, and the more it is circulated the more 
households will be made happy. — Churchman, X. Y. 

Every house-keeper, whether coining within the scope of 
the author's effort or not, will find many instructive hints, a 
due regard for which will be conducive to the improved phys- 
ical well-being and increased mental serenity of the various 
members of her household. — St. Louis Republican. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

VW Harper & Brothers will send the above work by mail, post- 
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Canada, on receipt of the price. 



MRS. SHERWOOD'S MANNERS AND 
SOCIAL USAGES IN AMERICA. 



Manners and Social Usages in America. A Book 
of Etiquette. By Mrs. John Sherwood, pp.448. 
New and Enlarged Edition, Revised by the Au- 
thor. lGmo, Extra Cloth, $1 25. 

Mrs. Sherwood's admirable little volume differs from ordi- 
nary works on the subject of etiquette, chiefly in the two facts 
that it is founded on its author's personal familiarity with the 
usages of really good society, and that it is inspired by good- 
sense and a helpful spirit. . . . We think Mrs. Sherwood's lit- 
tle book the very best and most sensible one of its kind that 
Ave ever saw. — iV. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 

We have no hesitation in declaring it to be the best work 
of the kind yet published. The author shows a just appreci- 
ation of what is good-breeding and what is snobbishness. . . . 
In happy discriminations the excellence of Mrs. Sherwood's 
book is conspicuous. — Brooklyn Union. 

It is a sensible and pleasantly written volume, which has 
already won recognition as one of the best books of its kind, 
and this new edition is called for by the heartiness with which 
the public has endorsed the work. — Courier, Boston. 

A sensible, comprehensive book, which has endured criti- 
cism successfully, and deserves now to be regarded the best 
book of its kind published in this country. ... A better 
guide than Mrs. Sherwood's book through the paths of social 
usages we do not know. The book is a handsome one, as it 
ought to be. — Christian Intelligencer, N. Y. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

|J3F~ Harper & Brothers will send the above work by mail, post- 
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HIGGfflSON'S WOMEN AND MEN. 



Women and Men. By Thomas \Yentworth Hig- 
ginson, Author of " A Larger History of the 
United States," &c. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

Nothing that Mr. Higginson has done in literature is more 
fascinating than these short papers, into which he has put 
his choice learning, his bright wit, his exceptional experience, 
and his unrivalled literary skill. — Boston Herald. 

Every essay is bright, suggestive, practical, and charming, 
and the work is sure to be widely popular. — Chicago Inte- 
rior. 

The author writes with candor and wisdom, and his zeal is 
guided by good-sense as well as evident ability. — Sunday- 
School Times, Philadelphia. 

These essays are replete with common-sense ideas express- 
ed in well-chosen language, and reflect on every page the hu- 
mor, wit, and wisdom of the author. — N~. Y. Sun. 

By that prince of essayists. . . . Practical, suggestive, and 
thoroughly enjoyable. — Chicago Journal. 

These papers have not only the merit of brevity, but they 
are bright, witty, graceful, and interesting. They are such 
papers as women delight to read, and men will enjoy them 
quite as much. . . . They are brief sermons without the dulness 
of sermonizing; and they teach important moral, social, and 
literary lessons, with the aid of frequent personal allusion, his- 
toric reference, and literary anecdote and quotation. — Critic, 
N. Y. 

Delightfully clever. . . . Perfect examples of what the short 
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Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New Youk. 

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THE BAZAR BOOKS. 



THE BAZAR BOOK OF DECORUM. 

The Care of the Person, Manners, Etiquette, and 
Ceremonials, pp.282. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

A very graceful and judicious compendium of the laws of 
etiquette, taking its name from the Bazar weekly, which has 
become an established authority with the ladies of America 
upon all matters of taste and refinement. — iV. Y. Evening Post. 

THE BAZAR BOOK OF HEALTH. 

The Dwelling, the Nursery, the Bedroom, the 
Dining-Roora, the Parlor, the Library, the Kitch- 
en, the Sick -Room. pp. 280. 16mo, Cloth, 

$1 00. 

A sensible book, and a most valuable one. . . . We 
consider that the wide distribution of this handy and ele- 
gant little volume would be one of the greatest benefactions, 
in a social and economical sense, that could be made to our 
countrymen and countrywomen. — Christian Intelligencer, N.Y. 

THE BAZAR BOOK OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

Marriage, Establishment, Servants, Housekeep- 
ing, Children, Home Life, Company, pp. 266. 
16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

Its pages are characterized by common-sense, and the 
book, with its practical style and useful suggestions, will do 
good. — Independent, N. Y. 



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postaye prepaid, to any part of the United Stales 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 421 334 8 # 



